Running Away
by MarshmallowRiggs
Summary: This is a Mac and Dick story set after season 3, but not movie or book compliant. They become friends over the summer and then more, but she can't have a happy ending with a Casablancas because fate isn't that kind...but what does the future hold. There will be some LoVe in here as well, but mostly it is from Mac and Dick's POVs.
1. Chapter 1

**I do not own the rights to Veronica Mars or the characters. I just really love the show.**

 **I've had this idea in the back of my head for a while now, but wanted to finish Honesty Matters before I started writing this one. Let me know what you think.**

Chapter 1

Mid October 2007

"Mac!"

She heard him calling her name as she ran from the frat house and towards the man sitting on the running motorcycle at the curb.

"You okay chica?" Weevil asked while he handed her his helmet.

Mac could still hear him calling her name behind her and shook her head, then put the helmet on before climbing on behind him. She looked back as they pulled away to see that Dick Casablancas had just reached the curb.

"What happened? Mac?!" He waved his arms at her.

* * *

Late May 2007 (Five Months Earlier)

It was one year to the day since Cassidy Casablancas left her naked in a hotel room. One year since he tried to kill Veronica and Logan. One year since he jumped off the roof of The Grand. And one year since he changed her life forever.

It was the first time she had visited his grave. There wasn't a funeral since Cassidy's father was still in hiding and his mother didn't think it was in good taste. She had known where he was buried because Veronica came to her house that summer and told her, but Mac could never gather the nerve to go. That was the one and only time Veronica ever mentioned Cassidy to her.

She stood over his grave looking down at the headstone for the first boy she ever loved and the first boy whoever broke her heart.

"This is the only time I will ever come here Cassidy. I don't understand why you did the things you did or why you felt the need to hurt me that way before… You broke me and I'm finally starting to put myself back together. I hope you found the peace you needed."

Mac wiped the tear from her cheek and turned to leave. She was shocked to find Dick Casablancas standing a few feet behind her.

"Hey."

"Hi. I was just leaving." She started to walk past him.

"Wait." Dick stepped in front of her to block her exit. "Don't go. I…I want to apologize…you know again." He took a deep breath. "I meant what I said at the beach. I truly am sorry for everything I did, but I screwed it up by being a dick."

Mac looked up at him with a small smile. "Well it is your namesake."

Dick laughed. "See and that's why you're cool." He stuffed his hands in his pockets and toed the ground with his shoe. "I heard what you said." Dick looked up and met her eyes. "He didn't hurt you like he did Veronica?"

When Logan told Dick about what Beaver had done to Veronica at some party years ago, Dick felt sick to his stomach that his baby brother could hurt anyone like that. Dick also knew that he was the one who put Beav in the room with Veronica, so it was partly his fault. He asked Logan that night about Mac because he knew she was supposed to have been with Beav. Logan told him that she was fine, but wouldn't comment further and it was why Dick began to direct his anger at her.

Mac shook her head. She had never spoken about that night before to anyone. After Veronica found her, Logan gave her a hoodie to wear before taking her back to his penthouse and finding clothes for her. He then let her hide in the guest bedroom of his penthouse until the next morning when she could sneak out undetected. The situation with Mac was never reported to the police. She explained that there was no point in telling anyone since Cassidy was dead and couldn't hurt anyone anymore. She felt another tear fall from her eye.

Dick reached up and wiped away the tear with his thumb as he cradled her cheek. He then stepped towards her and encased her in a hug. "I'm sorry for whatever he did…and everything I did…and everything I didn't do."

She pressed the side of her face into his chest and they held each other. After a minute Mac took a step back letting each of their arms drop to their sides. "What didn't you do?"

Dick rubbed his face with his hands. "Let's sit down." He motioned towards a bench nearby. After they were seated Dick pulled a flask from his pocket and took a sip. "I should have gotten him help. I knew he was messed up. I just didn't realize how bad or why." He took another sip and offered it to Mac.

"No thanks."

Dick shrugged and took another swig. "Do you remember the winter carnival and how I was going to hit him but he stopped me?" He looked over at her.

Mac nodded. "He asked if you remembered Sally or something like that." She thought back to Dick having Cassidy pinned on top of a car with his fist pulled back and how quickly he coward after Cassidy mentioned Sally.

"Sally was our dog. When I was thirteen and Cassidy was eleven, I came home from surfing and found him beating Sally with a baseball bat." Another swig. "She was tied up and couldn't runaway. When I got him off of her, she was so bad that she wasn't moving." Another swig and he choked back a small sob. "I untied her and took her inside to house. Beav told out dad that Sally was hit by a car. Big Dick was on a business call and step-mom number three didn't care. She died before I could get anyone to take her to the vet." Dick let out an uncomfortable laugh. "I just realized…Beav was wearing a baseball uniform when that happened." He rubbed his face with his hand.

Mac realized that Dick was just as broken if not more from Cassidy's death. "He stole my clothes." She pulled the flask from Dick's hand and took a sip.

Dick looked over at her. "What?"

She gave an uncomfortable laugh. "That night he rented a hotel room and we were supposed to…" She moved a rolling motion with her hand. "You know. But he couldn't. Cassidy was uncomfortable with anything more than kissing. So after I was turned down the first time I tried to lose my virginity, I decided to take a shower." Another sip. "When I got out he had taken my clothes, the towels, the sheets from the bed. Basically he took everything."

"Wow." Dick rubbed his face in his hands again before his head popped up. "I didn't see you that night after he jumped. How did you get out?"

Mac took a long pull from the flask. "I didn't. Apparently, Cassidy made Veronica think he had killed me. So she found me, well her, Logan, and the hotel manager. I was hiding in Logan's spare room." She passed him back the flask.

"Wish I could have hidden in Logan's spare room." Dick thought back to that night. He was at the graduation party in one of the ballrooms when someone came in a yelled that someone had jumped off the roof. Like any stupid teenage boy, Dick ran out with everyone to find out what he could see. When he arrived in front of his brother's body, Dick sank to his knees and threw up. "I saw him, ya know after."

Mac placed her hand over his and rubbed the back of it with her thumb before weaving their fingers together. "I'm sorry."

* * *

Four Days Later

Logan had called Mac to come by the penthouse to work on the Grade My Ass website. She knocked on the door and waited for him to answer. It didn't take long for the door to swing open, but instead of Logan, Mac was face to face with Dick.

"Hey." She smiled and gave a small wave.

"Yo Mackie!" Dick opened the door wide and motioned for her to enter. "DUDE!" Logan's head popped out of his bedroom. "There's a chick here to see you!"

Mac walked further into the penthouse. "Chick?" She raised an eyebrow at Dick.

"What?" Dick looked confused. "You are a chick right?" He scanned her up and down. "Chick hair, chick face, chick boobs…" Mac turned and walked away from him towards the couch and Dick followed. "Chick ass and you smell like a chick. I mean I can do a full physical, but I'm pretty sure it's a safe bet that you are a chick."

She looked at Logan and rolled her eyes. "Get a new word. Woman, girl, lady, female, etc. Don't call me a chick. And don't check out my boobs or ass." Mac set her laptop bag on the coffee table and made herself comfortable on the couch.

Logan sat down on the other part of the couch. "So how have you been Mac?

"I've been good. How are you?"

"Good, good. How's Veronica doing?"

Mac stood up and then picked up her bag. "Nope. I'm leaving." Dick was blocking her way between the couch and the table.

"What?! Why?" Logan jumped to his feet and moved to stand next to her.

Mac turned to face him. "Because I'm not going to be the person you go to in order to find out information about Veronica. That's not okay."

"I'm sorry. I was just making friendly chit-chat. You know, like friends do."

"Seriously?" Mac flopped back on the couch. "So now we're friends?"

"Well yeah. I kind of thought so."

Dick noticed Logan looked a little hurt by Mac's comment and wondered why Mac was questioning his friendship. Logan was Dick's best friend and the one person he could always count on to help even when he pushed him away.

Mac huffed. "You dated Veronica on and off for two years and I was friends with her the whole time. You spoke to me…What?...About five times. Then you date Parker and yes we started to become friends, but I'm not going to let you use me to find out information about Veronica."

Logan sat back down. "I'm sorry. You're right. Let me start over." He cleared his throat. "Good afternoon Mac. How have you been? How's Max?"

Dick walked to the fridge and pulled out a beer for everyone.

Mac accepted the beer Dick offered her. She wasn't much of a drinker, but if she was spending time with these two then she needed a little help. She put the beer to her lips and mumbled, "Max and I broke up."

"Q'est que c'est?" Logan leaned in to hear her.

Mac sat the beer down on the coffee table. "We. Broke. Up."

"Why? You were so nerdy perfect for one another."

"For one, he quit college. Two, he's ex, the hooker, is currently living on the 'couch' in his apartment." Mac used her fingers to make quotes when she said couch. "He claims nothing is going on, but it's only a matter of time. I thought it would be best to free him before he cheats." She fidgeted with the hem of her shirt.

"I'm sorry to hear that."

Mac picked her beer back up and took a sip. "It started very hot, but the fire was dying out."

Logan stood up. "Forget the website. It sounds like we need to cheer you up."

Mac's eyes shifted between Logan and Dick. Dick was grinning like the Cheshire Cat and nodding. "Why do I all of a sudden feel very afraid?"

"Dick, get the tequila."

Dick stood up and went to get a bottle of tequila, shot glasses, limes, and salt. "Let's get this party started." He sat everything down on the coffee table.

"Um guys. This isn't how girls normally handle break ups."

Dick and Logan looked at her and together responded. "We aren't girls." They laughed and pointed at one another before bumping fists, entertained by their shared brain.

Mac laid back on the couch and looked up at the ceiling. "I need more friends."

Logan poured the shots while Dick cut the limes. "You'd have to be social to make friends."

Her head popped back up. "Why you gotta be a buzz kill with your negative attitude?"

Dick laughed at her banter with Logan. Mac was not like most girls; she had spirit and could hold her own with anyone. When Logan was dating Parker, Mac was around a lot more and Dick began to see her is a different light. She wasn't just a smart nerd from the wrong side of the tracks, but she was also funny, quirky, and lately he has noticed that she's also cute.

Logan handed her a shot. "Here. Take your medicine. It will make everything better."

Mac took the shot he handed her and held it in her hand. "Salt and lime please." She licked her wrist and held it out for Logan to sprinkle salt on and took a lime in the hand as well. "Bottom's up boys." She licked the salt, downed the shot, and stuck the lime in her mouth.

Logan and Dick clapped and cheered her on.

Shots quickly turned into a game of I've Never.

Logan looked at Mac and pushed a shot towards her. "I'm never conned 09'ers out of their inherited wealth."

"Damn Veronica." Mac took the shot.

Dick perked up. "Explanation please."

Logan smiled at Mac as her face began to blush. "She was the one behind the purity test. All those test you bought lined her little pockets."

Mac sat the shot glass back down. "I should thank you Dick. You were one of my best customers."

"I should be upset, but I'm kind of turned on." Dick shook his head. "Go Mac."

"I've never…" Mac looked between the two of them. "Been arrested."

Both boys clinked their glasses to took their shots. Logan motioned for Dick to take the next turn.

"I've never…Shit I hate it when I can never think of anything. I guess I've never gotten a tattoo." Dick didn't expect anyone to drink and was shocked to see Mac pour a shot and throw it back. When he looked at Logan, he noticed he was equally as shocked. He felt like a kid in a candy store. "Oh please let us see."

Mac rolled her eyes and stood up. She unbuttoned and unzipped her pants. "Promise you will not tell anyone I showed you."

Dick was getting excited and noticed her black lace underwear. He didn't think Mac was cute anymore; she was fully fledged hot now.

Mac pushed her panties and pants down a little to show her hipbone. There was a small tattoo with a series of ones and zeros.

Logan looked but didn't move closer, but Dick felt like he needed to know what it said and moved so his eyes were inches away from her hip. "01001100011010010111011001100101. What does that mean?"

"It's binary code for the word live." Mac pushed Dick away and pulled her pants back up, then zipped and buttoned them. "Before Parker left to go back to her parents', she needed a girls' night and somehow we ended up with tattoos. Hers says live too, but in a Chinese symbol. That was one crazy night. We ran into Wallace and Piz. Poor Piz, he was so sad about Veronica breaking up with him before she left for Virginia." Mac realized what she had said and covered her mouth with her hand.

"What?" Logan sat up straight. "They broke up."

Mac lowered her hand. "I wasn't supposed to tell you that."

"Why not?"

"No. I'm not telling you anything else. Nope. Not happening. At least not without Veronica's permission."

Logan stood up and went to his room.

Mac looked at Dick. "I think he's mad at me."

Dick moved closer to Mac and leaned her head on his shoulder as he placed an arm around her. "I think he's thrilled that Ronnie is single again."

Mac breathed in the smell of Dick. "He looked mad."

He rubbed her arm. "I promise you, he isn't."

"He will be." Mac felt her eyes grow heavy. "When he finds everything out, he will be." She felt herself drift off to sleep against Dick.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Mid June 2007

Mac went to class that morning like usual since she was taking two classes over the summer semester to keep her form getting bored with Veronica and Wallace gone. She then spent the remainder of the day at Mars Investigation where she was filling in for Veronica as Receptionist/Researcher on a part-time basis over the summer. She mostly worked the office when Keith Mars was out doing his PI thing since he had lost the Sheriff election. Mac had to admit that she secretly loved having access to databases with people personal information. Today, Mr. Mars was out chasing a bail jumper that was in Northern California.

At five o'clock, Mac closed up the office and headed over to meet Logan at his penthouse. They had planned to work on the website and then have a night of video games. The boys believed they were experts at all video games, so Mac pretended like she didn't know any of them. Tonight's the night she plans to put her hustling skills to use.

Mac and Logan worked on the site while snacking on Red Vines and Red Bull, which were essentials for Mac.

"Done." Mac sat back and appraised her work.

Logan looked over her shoulder. "So that's another 150 posteriors added to the site?"

"Actually, it's another 158, but yes. There are additional advertisers listed, so we should start bringing in more money soon."

Logan stood up. "Speaking of. Here is your cut from the first month." He handed her a check from out of a folder.

A gasp escaped her lips. "That's over five thousand dollars!"

"Yup. I know it isn't much yet, but the checks will get bigger the longer the site is up." Logan took a drink from his soda.

"Maybe not to you, but this is great! Time to splurge a little. Mama wants a new pair of shoes."

"Shoes?" Logan raised an eyebrow. "I didn't take you for the girly type."

She rolled her eyes, because he obviously didn't understand. "Not literal shoes. I actually plan to buy a few high-end and expensive pieces of computer equipment."

He laughed and nodded. "Okay that makes more sense. I don't want to get in trouble when Veronica gets back. She would kill me if her best gal pal became girly while hanging out with me." Logan looked thoughtful. "What does that say about me if you became more girly?"

"That I lived with Parker for the past nine months. Not only did she get me branded, but I also own girly clothes, shoes, and accessories. All thanks to her genius idea for girl bonding."

Logan put his hands in a prayer position. "Oh please tell me you bonded…"

She smacked him in the chest. "Shut up before I pull out my taser and use you for practice."

His hands dropped. "You have a taser now." Logan looked worried.

"Yeah. Mr. Mars gave it to me. He thought I should have one since I'm working for him part-time."

Logan's phone began to ring and Mac noticed it wasn't a number programmed in his phone. "Hello?" He rubbed his hand over his face showing his frustration. "I'll be right there." Turning to Mac. "Who wants to go on a field trip?"

Mac narrowed her eyes. "Depends on where this field trip is going. If you say strip club, then I'm out."

"I was thinking more like going to see Dick behind bars. He's in jail…again."

Mac jumped off of the couch. "Well what are we waiting for, let's move!" She jumped up and down as they headed towards the door. "This is going to be so much fun." Then she stopped when they got to the elevator. "Why was he arrested?"

"He apparently went nuts on his dad. I know, shocker. The deputy decided not to arrest him. They are just holding Dick until I pick him up because releasing him to his father may be considered unethical."

When they arrived at the sheriff's department, Mac noticed a familiar deputy walking over with Dick. "Now Mr. Casablancas, I know you have a troubled relationship with your father, but please don't beat him up again. I really don't want to arrest you for doing a public service, but I will have to next time."

Dick smiled and saluted. "Sir, yes, sir."

The Deputy Leo D'Amato looked at Mac. She had first met Leo, when Veronica and he had first dated and heard that he was back in the department.

"Hey." He placed a hand on her elbow. "Can I speak with you a minute?"

Mac gave him a questioning look before putting on a Southern accent. "Why deputy I'm flattered, but…" Dropping the accent. "Who am I kidding? I'm not Veronica. What's up?"

"Come with me." He led her towards the interrogation room.

She was confused as to why Leo would need to speak with her, but didn't want to alarm the two guys waiting on her. Turning around she smiled at Logan and Dick before entering the room. The window on the door was opened and she could see Logan and Dick watching her from where they stood in front of the counter.

"Fine. I confess, it was me. I did it. Arrest me." She held her hands towards him like he was putting cuffs on and threw her head back.

"Hush." Leo leaned in close to her and spoke in a hushed tone. "I spoke with Veronica yesterday. I know she got herself in some trouble before she left. Kane is keeping Gorya Sorokin from going after Echolls, but she told me that she can't come back to Neptune. She made some deal with Kane."

Mac bit her lip and looked down as he continued.

"She asked me to watch out for you in case Kane figures out that you helped her." He handed her a business card. "This has all my contact information on it. Call me if you need anything."

She remembered what Veronica told her about never admitting that she ever helps with cases. Mac looked up at Leo. "I don't know what you're talking about." Putting the card in her pocket, she made a mental note to ask Veronica if his offer was legit. "My friends are waiting on me." She looked over at Logan and Dick, seeing their eyes watching her closely with jaws clenched. Mac gave them a genuine smile and laughed. "They also look really pissed." Turning back to Leo. "See you around Deputy." She left the room and headed back towards her friends.

Dick had watched the conversation with interest. He wondered what could have put Mac on a sheriff deputy's radar, and then he wondered if the conversation was of a personal nature. Quickly, he dismissed the idea since she had only broken up with Max a few weeks ago and spent too much time at the penthouse, in class, or at MI that she didn't have time to hook up. It must be computer related.

"What was that about?" Logan asked as they headed to the parking lot.

"Oh. Leo just had a computer question."

Dick gave himself a mental high five for guessing correctly.

"That he needed to speak with you in private." Logan eyed her and tried to read her face.

A small amount of panic went threw Mac, but then she looked at Dick and brilliant answer just came to her. "Um…yeah. You know the usual porn corrupted my hard drive stuff. Kind of like why I had to fix Dick's computer last week." That's right, just deflect and put the attention somewhere else. Veronica had taught her well.

Dick smiled. "What? I can't help that Russia has the best porn and their sites always leave viruses."

"Remind me to show you how to watch porn on your computer later." Mac got to the car and noticed that Logan hadn't unlocked the doors. When she turned around the two guys were standing next to one another with their mouths hanging open. "What?" Confusion washed over her as she thought back to their conversation.

Dick pointed at her. "Did you just offer to watch porn with me?" The more time he spent with Mac, the more he began to know her and see how she wasn't the person he always assumed. Not only was she smart, but she could hold her liquor even though she wasn't much of a drinker, was a natural at video games, and had excellent tastes in movies. Mac wasn't like any other girl that Dick had been around. She reminded his of Ronnie, but not as scary. This is the first time that Dick ever just enjoyed being around a girl without the drive to just have sex. They were actually becoming friends, which Dick liked.

Mac realized what had the boys shocked and blushed as she bit her lip. "More like to show you what sites are safe and how to recognize when a link may have a virus attached before you click it. But I guess in a round about way, yes." She folded both her lips and bit down while she closed her eyes and waited for the comments she knew they would throw at her.

"I finally found a girl who will watch porn with me. Dude call my mother, I think I'm in love." He pretend fainted onto Logan's shoulder.

Logan put a hand in the air. "I have a question. Will this be a full service lesson? Because I think Dick needs thorough instructions."

Dick grinned at Mac while he nodded his head excitedly. Teasing her and making her blush was high on his list of summer hobbies.

"Oh shut up." Mac turned back to Logan's Land Rover. "Are you going to unlock the door?" She knew that this was probably going to continue to the remainder of the night.

* * *

Late June 2007

Dick and Logan were standing outside the MacKenzie residence. "Dude, are you sure her parents aren't home?"

"Yes." Logan reached to knock, but Dick grabbed his hand.

"Because they probably hate me because of Beav. I just don't want to make things weird." Dick knew people judged him because of what his brother did. The families of the bus victims were suing his dad for damages, which Dick found hilarious because they were going to have to wait in a long line of people trying to get money from Big Dick. Luckily Dick's trust fund came from his mother and couldn't be touched.

Logan knocked on the door. "Chill." When the door swung open, Natalie Mackenzie was standing in front of them. "Hi Mrs. Mackenzie. Can Mac come out to play?" Logan look sheepish.

Natalie gestured for them to come in. "Hi boys. I'm Cindy's mom, you can all me Natalie, don't worry about the formal stuff." She walked to the end of a hallway. "Cindy, sweetie. You have visitors." Natalie turned back to the boys. "Logan, Dick. You two are welcomed to sit down. It's so nice to finally meet you. Cindy has mentioned that she has been spending time with you recently."

Dick was floored that Mac's mom knew who he was and didn't just throw him out of her house. He was also a little confused because while her mom looked familiar, she didn't look anything like Mac. The only conclusion Dick could come up with is that Mac takes after her dad.

Mac walked into the room obviously thrown off by the two guys being there.

"Can I get you anything?" Natalie asked as she stood up.

After her mother left, Mac founded her thoughts again. "What are you guys doing here?"

"You told us you're parents were going out of town. We wanted to check up on you and make sure you were doing okay." Logan gave her his Echolls' smile.

She held her hand up signaling him to stop talking. About fifteen seconds later, Natalie walked in with drinks and a plate of snacks. "I don't know if you two are regular eaters or vegan like Mac, but here are a few snacks."

"Thanks Mom." Mac smiled at her mother. She opened her mouth to answer Logan, but was cut off by Dick.

"Why was your mother nice to me? Shouldn't she like hate me or something? Or does she not know that Beav…Cassidy was my brother?"

When Dick got down on himself, Mac always softened. She didn't think Dick should blame himself for everything that happened with Cassidy. "She knows. She also knows that you aren't your brother. I told her that you and I talk about him, so she supports us being friends. She thinks it therapeutic." Not wanting to reveal too much to Logan and Dick, but she thought about how she told her mom that Dick was the only person she felt comfortable talking about Cassidy too. While she and Dick have only spoken about him twice since the cemetery, Mac felt the past few weeks have done more than the three months she went to therapy. "So why are you really here?"

Logan shrugged. "We were bored. Thought you may be able to amuse us."


	3. Chapter 3

**Here is another chapter for this story. Please let me know what you think.**

Chapter 3

Mid October 2007

"Hey babe!" Dick grabbed her hand while he pushed between two guys. "I've been looking for you everywhere."

Mac pulled her hand from his grasp. "Leave me alone." Being a smaller female, she was able to skirt around people and leave him calling after he. Unfortunately, she stumbled into Logan near the door to the Pi Sig house.

"Hey Mac! That boyfriend of yours was looking for you." Logan grinned down at her.

Mac scowled at him. "What boyfriend?"

His face fell. "What happened?"

"I'm an idiot. That's what happened." Mac looked to her right to see Dick pushing through the crowd. She quickly moved to the left and out the front door.

* * *

July 4, 2007

Mac stood in the penthouse waiting on both Logan and Dick to finish getting ready. They had persuaded her to go with them to a big party on the beach. Wearing her dark blue halter-top bikini with jean shorts and a gray tank top over. She had brought an addition dress cover-up in her beach bag along with sunblock and other essentials.

Logan came out of his bedroom. "I'm ready."

"Well, we are just waiting on Dick now. I don't understand how it takes you two so long to get dressed."

"I don't know about Logan, but it's my hair." Dick stated as he came out of his bedroom.

"Really?" Mac was confused. "It looks like you just rolled out of bed."

Dick shot a finger gun at her. "Exactly. It takes a lot of effort to make it look effortless."

They arrived at the beach to a huge blow out. Mac was overwhelmed by all the people in swimsuits gathered around and the music blasting. She wasn't sure how she was going to make it through the day.

"Come one guys. I reserved us an umbrella and chairs." Dick gestured for everyone to follow.

Mac was grateful for the spot Dick had gotten some teenage boy to commandeer for them in exchange for a twelve pack of beer. She sat her bag down and looked around.

Dick saw Mac's expression and knew she was stressing about being at this large a party. "Hey Mackie. Want a beer or…" He pulled out a bottled margarita and held it up for her to see. She had mentioned how her mom and her drink pitchers of margaritas together all the time.

"I think you know what I want." She took the margarita from him with a smile. "Thanks Dick."

He felt proud of himself for doing something right and mentally gave himself a pat of the back. Dick took his shirt off and picked up a bottle of sunblock. He began applying the lotion to his chest and arms as he looked around to see if he could find anyone her knew. "Hey Mac. Can you get my back for me?"

Mac turned back from the where she was people watching. "Yeah sure." She sat on one of the loungers with her legs to both sides and had Dick sit in front of her.

Dick was enjoying having Mac rub the lotion on his back. Over the years, Dick had learned how to cover his back himself, but getting a girl to do it was so much better. He noticed that she didn't just lather it on and then wipe her hands clean, but actually made sure she had it rubbed in. He relaxed under her touch.

Mac wiped her hands down his back and then patted it. "Okay your done." She turned to Logan. "Logan, do you need some on your back?"

He shook his head. "I'm not planning on taking my shirt off."

Mac put the bottle on the little table next to her chair and stood up. "So what exactly do you do at a party like this?"

At that moment a group of drunk college guys walked by while play fighting. One knocked into another causing him to throw his cold beer all over Mac's front.

Mac jumped at the sudden freezing drinking landing on her chest, stomach, and legs. "Cold. Cold. Cold."

Dick and Logan were up and between Mac and the guys. "Watch what your doing." Logan pushed the guy back.

"Sorry. That was a major party foul on our part." One of the guys from the back of the group came up obviously trying to smooth things over.

Dick noticed the guys elbowing one another and pointing behind him. When he turned around he saw Mac had removed her shirt and was pulling off her shorts. He was in awe at how toned and amazing her body was. He also wondered why she chooses to hide her body away if that is what she was working with. It took him a moment to unglue his eyes from her.

The spokesman for the group pushed past Dick and came to stand in front of Mac. "Hi. I'm Chad. I just wanted to apologize for my idiot friends. They can get a little stupid when they drink."

Mac gave him a slight smile. "Thanks. I appreciate that." She picked up the sunblock and began rubbing it in to the newly exposed skin.

"Do you need someone to put some of that on your back?" Chad offered.

"Actually, I think one of them can handle it. Thanks." She pointed at Dick and Logan.

Dick was getting very agitated at this stupid pretty boy who had the nerve to come up and hit on a girl who was obviously here with him and Logan. He also was getting mad at the way all of them were leering at Mac and wanted to put a stop to it, so he walked up behind Mac and took the sunblock and began to rub it into her back as she pulled her long hair up and out of the way.

"I gotcha babe." He gave Chad a look that told him to find a new place to be and fast.

After they left Mac turned her head. "Thanks Dick. Make sure you get some under the strap."

Dick ran his hand between the back of her bikini top and her skin. He also noticed that as a young red-blooded American male, he was also having a hard time not showing everyone how excited he was to be touching Mac. Once he was done, Dick quickly sat down to hide his situation before Mac could notice. But when he looked over at Logan, he saw a smirk on his face, which told Dick that Logan, had noticed his predicament. So Dick did the only thing he could do, he flipped him off, which only resulted in Logan laughing hysterically.

A couple of hours later and a few margaritas in, Mac found herself in the dancing area in front of the DJ booth. There were at least 100 people packed into the space. Dick was dancing like a goofball and making her laugh. Mac didn't think she would be having this much fun.

If someone had told her last summer that she would be living it up with Logan Echolls and Dick Casablancas at the beach party, then she would have thought they were smoking some tainted crack.

Two hands slide onto her bare stomach and Mac felt what was obviously an excited guy grind into her backside. She wanted to pull away but instead stopped moving and froze for a split second.

Before she got the ability to move back, Dick pulled her towards him so her back was now pressed against him and out of the other guys grasp. "Hey dude, go find your own dance partner. She's taken." He took her hand and twirled her in a circle so she was now facing him.

"Thanks."

"You looked a little panicked. I thought you might of needed some help."

"Normally I would say I could handle myself, but this time you were right. I've never had some random guy just put his hands on me like that before." At that moment Mac realized she was pressed against Dick with one of his arms wrapped around her and they were dancing to the music. She also realized that her hands were resting on his sides just above the waistband of his swim trunks. "I think I'm in need of some more libations."

"Sounds like a good plan. Let's go."

Mac felt Dick's arms wrap around her waist and he lifted her off the ground as he pushed sideways through the crowd.

"I can walk Dick." She wrapped her arms around his neck to steady herself.

He gave her a goofy grin. "I don't want to lose you in the mass of people."

Making it to the edge of the crowd, Mac felt a pinch on her butt and jumped. She wrapped her legs around Dick's waist as she looked behind her at who could have done that. "Someone just pinched my ass!" When she looked back at Dick, she realized the position they were in and giggled at his shocked expression. "Um…sorry. It was an reflex?"

Dick had been enjoying dancing with Mac and when they went to leave the area, didn't want to risk another guy grabbing her so he picked her up, but to say he was shocked when she ended up wrapping her legs around his waist was an understatement. He was having trouble controlling himself dancing when she was pressed against him and he lost it when she jumped him. Now he had to figure out how to put her down without making an embarrassing situation worse. Then he realized there was no way to do that.

"So I would like to go ahead and apologize now, before I put you down."

Mac looked confused. "Um…why?"

Dick took a deep breath and silently begged his erection to go down, but as long as she was wrapped around him he knew it was futile. "You'll figure it out." He shook his head and lowered her to the ground as she slightly grazed his penis.

She was looking everywhere but at Dick. "So, yeah that just happened. Now I think I want that drink." Mac awkwardly turned and started walking back to the umbrella.

Dick looked towards the sky and thought of everything gross and unsexy as possible, while letting his situation go down enough that it wasn't as obvious and he followed Mac. He prayed that Logan wouldn't read what happened on their faces, but when he got there a little after Mac, she was avoiding looking at him. The situation in his shorts had gone down, but not completely and Logan of course noticed and proceeded to laugh at the awkwardness while his eyes shifted between Mac and him. So Dick did what he had to, he picked up an empty beer can and chunked it at Logan's head.

* * *

Mid July 2007

Dick and Logan had been pestering Mac to let them teach her how to surf all summer and she was finally giving in to a lesson. She arrived at the beach around eight in the morning, which she felt was an ungodly hour for a Sunday morning. Drinking her soy latte, Mac looked out into the waves and recognized her two buddies sitting on their boards. She waved to get their attention, then dropped her bag on the sand next to their things and sat down.

They came back to shore and stood their board up in the sand. Logan pulled out a woman's surf shirt from his bag. "I got this for Parker because she wanted me to teach her this summer, but as you know that didn't happen."

Mac stood up and removed her the cotton dress she threw on as cover up. She was in a cute black and white striped bikini that showed her tattoo off, which was something new she was getting comfortable doing. When she looked down, Mac noticed Dick's eyes scanning her. She blushed and was flattered by the way he was looking at her lately. And if she was being honest, she also kind of liked having him look at her like that. Pulling on the surf shirt, Mac kicked sand at Logan and Dick.

"Okay boys. Let's surf."

"Patience grasshopper." Logan stood up and patted her on the head. "You must first learn to pop."

After what felt like an hour on the shore learning how to position herself on the board and how to correctly pop up, Mac was bored. "When do I get to try this in the water, because this is getting redundant."

"Do you think you can handle it?" Dick asked her.

Mac picked up her water bottle and took a sip. "I can handle anything you got." She smirked at him when his mouth dropped at her double meaning. Mac splashed some of the cold water from her bottle at Dick. "You look like you needed to cool off."

Since she began hanging out with Logan and Dick, Mac found herself more laid back and just enjoying life. Before she would keep to herself and with her nose in a computer, but now she is experiencing more of the fun everyone told her she should be having. Even her mother noticed that she smiled and laughed more, instead of having a constant serious expression on her face.

She looked over at Logan who was chuckling, when all of a sudden she saw movement out of the corner of her eye and was being thrown over Dick's shoulder. Mac let out a girly scream.

"I think you need to cool off." Dick slapped her on the ass.

Mac slapped at his back. "What are you doing? Put me down." She could see Logan laughing harder as he began following behind them, but stopping at the water's edge.

Dick walked into the water up to his waist and then dropped her in.

In seconds Mac was up. "Oh you're a dead man!" She threw herself at him full force knocking him down into the water. They were laughing and splashing each other for several minutes.

"Ouch!" Mac cried. "That hurt."

Dick stopped playing around. "You okay?" His face became very serious.

Mac knocked him off his feet and he fell back into the water. She took off towards the shore, but looked back to see him pop back up. "Sucker!"


	4. Chapter 4

**I don't plan on flashing forward to when Mac runs away again until we make it to that scene, but I may change my mind. Let me know what you think.**

Chapter 4

Mid July 2007

Mac was sitting in the cafeteria grabbing breakfast before going to her first class of the day. She looks around at how empty the campus is during the summer semester. When the summer started Mac thought she would be spending all her time either in class or working for MI, but has found that when she isn't in those two places then she's been hanging out with Logan and Dick.

Logan had begun to become her friend when he was dating Parker. Mac had started to see a different side of him when she began hanging out with him, and can easily say they have become good friends.

Dick was another story. While she had forgiven him for everything that happened in the past, Mac was still a little hesitant to fully trust him as a friend. At first they were able to bond over a conversation about Cassidy and then she found that they had more in common than she suspected. He was a competent opponent with video games and they have spent many nights sparring off. Throughout the summer, his laid back attitude had started to rub off on Mac and she did begin to think of him as a friend, but she often worried that once summer was over he was going to revert back to the old Dick.

A ringing sounded from inside Mac's laptop bag and she was able to dig it out and answer it just in time.

"Hey Bond."

 _My Q! How have you been?_

"Good. Just grabbing a something to eat before class. How's Virginia?"

 _Going great. Interning at the FBI means a lot of coffee runs and transcribing. Not as exciting as one would think._

"Are you sure? I would think the great Veronica Mars would have found a way to insert herself into a major case by now."

 _Unfortunately not. How are your BFFs?_

"Excuse me. I have not replaced you. You still hold the title and it is not one that will be shared, but Logan and Dick are the same."

 _That's good. I'm still shocked that you are now friends with Dick._

"You and me both. But he isn't so bad all the time. However, he called me last night at two in the morning wanting to know what his brother's favorite color was, then didn't understand why I was annoyed."

 _That sounds about right. What brought on the need to know?_

"He had dinner with his dad and they got in an argument as always. His dad asked Dick random questions about Cassidy. Dick answered a lot of them, but wasn't sure if he answered the color correctly. He was pretty relieved when I told him it was red, which is what he told his dad."

 _It sounds like you're helping him come to terms with everything._

"Yeah. He's changed a lot since he's dad got back, but I don't know if it will stick after Big Dick goes to prison."

 _Maybe you should use the taser my dad gave you to help keep him in line._

She chuckled at the thought. "I've already threatened him a couple of times just to keep him on his toes." Mac took a sigh. "Logan asked about you last night."

 _Oh._

"Yeah. He wants to know when you're getting back. I changed the subject. When are you going to tell him that you aren't coming back?"

 _Mac. I'm just not ready to talk to him yet._

"Did something happen with Logan before you left?

 _What? Why do you ask?_

"I've been getting this feeling like he thinks the two of you will be back together when you get back."

 _Oh._

"That's all you're going to say? Oh?"

 _I may have accidently slept with Logan the night before I left._

"How do you accidently sleep with someone?"

 _I fell?_

"On his penis?"

 _No. I fell for everything he was saying and it just happened. When I realized I cheated on Piz, I bolted while he was asleep._

"That's why you broke up with Piz the morning you left." Mac rubbed her face in frustration. "You have to talk to Logan."

 _I can't. Look if he asks again about when I'm coming back then you are welcome to tell him I'm not. Just don't tell him why. I don't want him to know about the deal._

"Are you seriously getting me to break up with Logan for you?" She was shocked.

 _NO! We aren't together. I haven't even spoken to him since that night._

"I know. He told me you don't answer his calls."

 _Look Mac. I need to go because my boss is coming my way. I'll talk to you later about this._

"Fine." She flipped her phone closed and sighed in annoyance as she looked at the time and realized she was now five minutes late to class.

Mac stood up from her seat and felt a tap on her shoulder. Jumping and turning around, Mac saw Eli Navarro standing in front of her.

"Hey Weevil. How's it going?"

"Hey chica. It's good. I just saw you and thought I'd come by and say hello. How's it going with you?"

"Well I was just on the phone with Veronica, which made me lose track of time and now I'm late to class. But other than that I'm good."

"Speaking of V, she asked me to keep an eye on you here at Hearst. I guess she's worried about you because of that case where I let you into the supercomputer."

"She's just being overprotected."

Weevil laughed. "Possibly. Do you still have my number from when you tutored me?"

Mac nodded. "I think so." She pulled her phone back out and opened it to check. "Yeah, it's here."

"Good. Just call me if you need anything." He looked around the cafeteria. "I also have a favor to ask."

"Okay?" Mac didn't understand how the former leader of a motorcycle gang would need a favor from her.

"I signed up to take a couple of classes this summer at the community college. I was wondering if you'd be able to help me."

Mac smiled and was genuinely excited for Weevil. "That's great! Of course I'll help. What classes?"

"Just the basics. English and math. I have finals coming up in both in two weeks. I'm passing, but just barely."

"How about we get together this weekend and I can assess where you're at and what you need to work on?"

"Mac, you are an angel. Thank you."

* * *

Same Day

Dick was sitting on his surfboard out in the water waiting for Logan to catch up with him. He watched as Logan paddled out to him and thought about how much better everything was when he was sitting out in the water.

"Dude! You took your time getting out here."

"Yeah, yeah." Logan positioned his board next to Dick and sat up. "How was dinner with your dad last night?"

"It was fine." Slapping his hand on the water, Dick thought back to the civil conversation dinner from the night before. The dinner that consisted of polite conversations because he's father had brought his new girlfriend who was only two years old than Dick.

"You didn't come home before I went to bed. What did you do after dinner?"

"I came to the beach and just sat for a while. So did you and Mac have fun last night?"

"Yeah, just pizza and a movie. Nothing exciting. She wants us to rent Clerks II this weekend, but we have to watch the first one before we watch the new one."

They had watched a large variety of movies since they started hanging out, but Dick was entertained by the fact Mac enjoyed Kevin Smith movies. Most girls would want to watch chick flicks, but Mac had more of a guy's sense of humor.

"Is she coming over tonight?" Dick looked behind him at the waves coming in.

"She may. So do you want to talk about Mac?"

Dick whipped his head to look at Logan. "Why?"

"July Fourth. All I'm going to say."

"Dude, that was nothing. I've just been spending so much time with my dad that I haven't gotten laid in a while. It's nothing, just a physical reaction because of my cold spell." Dick splashed water at Logan. "Like you didn't notice how hot she looked in that bikini."

"To be honest, I didn't even notice her bikini or body until _after_ I noticed your reaction."

"Oh come on. When was the last time you had any? If I remember correctly you and Parker never got busy, so that means you haven't gotten your knob polished since you were with Ronnie months ago."

"My knob isn't the point. This conversation is about you and Mac."

Dick rolled his eyes. "There is no me and Mac. We've just becoming friends and I'm focusing on not screwing that up." He paddled out to catch a wave and ended the conversation.

Since summer began Dick and Mac bonded over the anniversary of Cassidy's death, but have also just become friends. She was there the night he fought with his dad, then got drunk and proceeded to get sick. Mac put a cold washcloth on his neck and rubbed his back. She is the most put together person he knew and he was grateful that Mac was giving him a chance to be her friend. But if he was honest with himself, then he would have to admit that he was developing feelings for Mac and they weren't just physical.

* * *

Late July 2007

"Take that!" Mac boosted as she beat Logan again at the video game they were playing. "Boo yeah!"

"You suck!" Logan tossed his head back onto the couch. "I give up! I'm not playing with you anymore."

"Sore loser." She stood up and danced in place before Logan nudged her with his foot and caused her to fall onto the couch. Mac's phone began to ring.

Logan sat up and picked up her phone to hand to her. Mac saw a smile cross his face as he looked at her phone, so she grabbed it out of his hand and hit ignore before he could answer it.

"You can talk to her around me, you know. It's okay." He rubbed his hands over his face. "When is she getting back?"

Mac sighed. "Damn it Veronica."

"What?" Logan was looking at her with his puppy dog eyes.

"I didn't want to be the one to tell you. I kept trying to get her to call or email you herself." Mac groaned because this was a conversation she didn't want to be having, but knew she couldn't keep secret from him. "She isn't coming back."

"What?!" He was up and moving around the room. "What do you mean?"

"She isn't coming back to Hearst…or to Neptune." Mac watched as he paced in front of her.

"Where is she going?"

"I don't know. She hasn't told me. When she left, she didn't know yet."

Logan stopped pacing. "When she left? She knew she wasn't coming back when she left?"

Mac nodded.

"You've known all summer, but you didn't tell me." He was clenching his jaw and Mac knew he was angry with her.

She nodded again and bit her lips. "She asked me not to. Veronica's my friend, what was I supposed to do?"

"I'm your friend too." Logan pointed at himself. "At least I thought I was." He stormed into his bedroom and slammed the door.

Mac sat on the couch staring at his closed bedroom doors. She debated on whether she should try to speak to him or let him cool off. Her thoughts were broken when the penthouse door opened and Dick came strolling in.

"Hey Mackie! Where's Logan?" He was looking at her with his big goofy grin.

She pointed her thumb at his bedroom. "He's mad at me." Mac stood up to leave. "I'm going to go."

Dick came to stand in front of her. "What happened?"

"I told him that Veronica wasn't coming back."

"He can't be mad at you for that. It's not like you can control Ronnie." Dick motioned for Mac to sit back down.

"Logan's mad that I've known all summer and didn't tell him."

"Oh. That's what you meant when you said he'll be mad at you."

Mac nodded.

"Come here." Dick pulled Mac into a hug. "He'll get over it."

Mac let Dick hold her and it did make her feel better. The door to the Logan's bedroom opened and he came out into the living area.

"How sweet. Aren't you two just adorable?" Logan went to the minibar and pulled out at bottle.

"Dude." Dick let go of Mac.

Logan opened the bottle and took a swig. "Is there anything else I should know?"

"Not that I can tell you." Mac noticed how defeated and hurt Logan looked.

"Is she every going to talk to me?"

"I hope so."

Logan walked back to his room and shut the doors, while Mac stared down at her hands in her lap. She hated the position she was put in with Logan. But she couldn't be mad at Veronica, because the more she got to know Logan, the more she understood why Veronica didn't want him to know about the deal. If he knew, then he would probably go fist flying at Sorokin and would probably end up dead.

"So I have something that would make you feel better, but I'm not sure how you'll feel about it." Dick nudged her with his elbow.

Mac raised her eyebrow. "If you're talking about sex, then I'll pass. But thanks."

He rolled his eyes and shook his head. "While that would be great and all, I was thinking more like brownies."

"Brownies?"

"Not just any brownies. They're special." He stood up and went into the kitchen area before returning with a pan of brownies with only a couple missing.

Mac looked at the baked goods. "Is there pot in those?" She was a little shocked to know they had drugs in their room.

Dick looked sheepish and nodded.

She had the opportunity to smoke pot once in high school, but didn't want to go home smelling like it, so she passed. However, eating pot brownies was a different story. Mac slowly smiled. "What the hell."

They had each eaten one large brownie each and were sitting on the balcony in a double lounger looking at the sky.

"I see Howard the Duck." Dick pointed to one of the clouds above them.

Mac looked at the cloud and giggled. "That's such an awesome movie." Her phone buzzed. "It's my mom. Oh shit, she'd going to know I'm stoned. I'm going to be in so much trouble."

Dick took the phone from her hands and placed it on the table on his other side. "Only if you answer it."

Mac rolled over to look at Dick. "You're so smart."

He started to laugh hysterically. "I think I need to record you saying that. No one will believe me if I tell them you said that."

"You're not stupid." Mac started to think. "Well not all the time. Remember I did see your grades from last semester."

Dick nudged her with his elbow. "I just had easy classes."

"You took the same business class as Logan and you had an A in it while he got a B. You have a 2.8, which tells me you're smarter than you want people to know."

"Cass was the smart one. I'm the good-looking one."

Mac poked his arm with her finger. "I bet if you tried, than you would make better grades."

He shrugged her off as he continued to stare at the sky. "Whatever Ghost World."

Rolling onto her back, Mac felt a slap at his use of that nickname. "I hate when you call me that." She stood up and started to walk towards the door.

Dick turned to see her moving to leave. "Wait. I'm sorry." He felt guilty for calling her a name that hurts her feelings. "I promise to never call you that again."

Mac turned back to Dick. "Why do you do that?"

"I don't know. Because I'm an asshole." He sat his head back on the lounger and closed his eyes because he didn't like to see Mac looking at him with disappointed expression. Dick felt Mac sit back down on the lounger next to him. "I'm sorry."

"Dude, you're mellowing my high." Mac poked his side making him jump.

Dick turned to see a smile spread across her face. A strand of hair had fallen from her ponytail he brushed it back behind her ear and wondered what it would be like to kiss her. Mac's smile faltered for a moment and Dick shook the thoughts out of his head. "I guess I need to fix that. Munchie time?"

Mac nodded.

"I'll be right back." Dick got up and went back inside the penthouse and called room service to order a variety of snacking food, making sure most were vegetarian for Mac.

When he came back out to the balcony he brought two small slices of brownie. "We need a little boost." He handed her one of the slices and downed the other in two bites as he flopped back down on the lounger. "I called for some snacks, so listen out for the door."

A ringing sounded next to Dick. He picked up the phone and answered it. "Yo!"

 _Um. I'm calling for Mac._

Dick pulled the phone from his ear then realized it was Mac's and saw the PCHer's name on the screen. "Uh, Mackie. I accidently answered your phone."

She jumped up. "It's not my mom right?"

"No. It's Paco." He handed her the phone.

"Be nice. Didn't we just go over calling people names?" She placed the phone to her ear. "Hey Weevil…Yeah, we're still on for Saturday." Mac giggled at something he said. "Works for me…See you there...Bye."

Listening to her giggle on the phone with Weevil was making Dick very annoyed. "So you're dating Weevil now?" Dick had the urge to punch that Mexican douche.

Mac turned to look at Dick. "No. I'm helping him with something. Why? Jealous?"

"No." Dick prayed that didn't come out as pouty as he thought it sounded. "I just thought we could give you another surf lesson."

Mac poked Dick in the side again and he jumped.

"Stop that!"

A cruel grin spread across her face. "Why? Are you ticklish?" She then used her both her hands to tickle his side.

Dick grabbed her hands. "Let's see how you like it." He proceeded to tickle her with one hand, but Mac didn't react. He noticed that she wasn't fighting to stop him. "You're not ticklish, are you?" She shook her head and he dropped her hands.

"But you are." Mac straddled Dick and began tickling both his sides.

Dick was laughing and trying to catch his breath. "Stop. Uncle. Uncle." He grabbed both of her hands and raised them above his head, which pulled Mac down closer to him.

They were both breathing hard and staring into each other's eyes. The grins on both their faces faltered and Dick thought about making a move to kiss her, when there was a knock on the penthouse door.

"The food's here." Mac said as she climbed off of Dick and walked back inside.

Dick took a long slow breath before getting up and following her.


	5. Chapter 5

**I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think.**

Chapter 5

Mid August 2007

Hearst campus was hectic with students getting moved into the dorms. Mac had parked in her green Beetle next to Logan's SUV and got out. Dick had already opened the back and was loading his arms with her stuff.

"You know this would be quicker if Logan wasn't a scaredy cat and would have come helped." Dick mumbled.

Mac grinned. "He's scared that Parker will be here. It's not like they broke up on the best of terms. At least he let us borrow his SUV so it would only take one trip from my parents."

"I understand the reasoning, but the dude seriously needs to grow a pair."

When they arrived at the dorm room Mac noticed the door was already opened and jogged down the hall.

"Parker!"

"MAC!"

Parker turned around as Mac placed her suitcase on the ground by the door. They enveloped each other in a hug.

"Girl, I've missed you." Parker pulled back to look at Mac. She ran a hand through Mac's hair. "You're hair has gotten so long and it's lighter. I'm guessing you've been spending time in the sun."

"Dear Penthouse. I was helping my friend moved into her dorm room, when I suddenly walked into hot girl on girl."

Mac turned around to look at Dick who was standing in the doorway. "Down boy."

Parker confusingly moved her finger between Mac and Dick. "Why's Dick here?"

"He's helping me move my stuff in."

Parker shook her head obviously more confused than before. "Why?"

"Well you see, all my friends abandoned me over the summer. You went home, Veronica went to Virginia, and Wallace was in Africa. So I made new friends." Mac pointed at Dick, who in turn waved at Parker.

"That would be me. I'm the new friend." Dick sat Mac's computer tower on her desk.

"Neptune must be in short supply of people if that's who you make friends with."

"Be nice. He's sensitive." Mac staged whispered to Parker.

Dick walked to the door. "I can just leave. I don't have to help you."

Mac quickly scurried over to Dick and grabbed his arm. "Wait. I'm just kidding. Don't leave. You, Dick Casablancas, are my favorite guy friend. By helping me move you have knocked Logan down from his spot."

She also realized in that moment that he had become her best guy friend. While she still spoke with Veronica on a regular bases, she found herself talking to Dick more than Logan as the summer went on especially after Logan got mad at her. Luckily, Logan only stayed mad for a few days and then was back to hanging out with her, but during that period where Logan avoided Mac, she found herself hanging out with Dick a lot.

"What about Wallace?" Parker asked.

"He forfeited his spot when he went to Africa." Mac waved it off like it was obvious.

"Let's get the rest of your stuff." Dick smiled at her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders leading her out the down the hall.

It took an additional four trips to bring all of her things into the dorm. Mac began setting up her computer as Dick began hanging posters and unpacking boxes. There was a knock at the door and Mac lifted her head out from under her desk to see Wallace and Piz standing at the door.

"Hey Mac, Parker! I'm looking for the hottest sophomore ladies at Hearst and was told I could find them in this room."

Mac got up and walked over to give Wallace and a quick hug. "Welcome back, Wallace. I'm glad to see you made it back safely." She turned to Piz and gave him a small hug as well. "Hey Piz. How was your summer?" Parker came up behind her and gave each of the guys hugs as well.

"My summer was fine. I did the internship in New York, which was amazing." Piz turned his head and noticed Dick. "Hi, Dick isn't it?" Dick gave him an awkward wave.

Wallace's head whipped around. "Dick. Hey man." He held his hand out and Dick shook it. "Didn't expect to see you here."

"You mean you don't know about me and Mac?" He turned to Mac and placed a hand on his chest. "Mackie, I'm a little hurt that you haven't told your other friends about…" He jumped over the bed and enveloped Mac in a hug. "Us."

Mac laughed at first but then placed her hands on his sides and tickled him. "Off."

Dick laughed as he backed away. "What?"

When she turned back to Wallace and Piz, they were standing with their mouths hanging open. "He's joking. We're just friends and he is helping me get settled in to the dorm room."

"But you didn't freeze up when Dick like full on body hugged you." Wallace was confused. "You don't like people in your space." He walked over to Mac and gave her a tight hug.

Mac bent her arms and awkwardly patted Wallace on the back as she rolled her eyes.

Wallace stepped back. "Yeah, you've relaxed on the touching thing, but I would like to make the observation that you were still more comfortable with Dick and even tickled him."

"Well yeah. I mean no. Yes?" Wallace and Dick both raised an eyebrow at her. "Grrrr. I've hung out with him a lot this summer and Dick is just touchy, so I guess I'm used to it."

"I leave you alone for the summer and you go a start becoming more chilled. I never thought I'd ever say that Dick Casablancas was a good influence."

Mac swatted him. "Oh shut up."

Dick laughed from where he was standing to the side. "You should see her when she's stoned."

"DICK!" Mac eye bulged our and mouth dropped open.

* * *

Three Days Later

It was dark while Mac made her way across campus to her dorm from the research lab that she had been setting up new computers in. Mac was back to her old job of working IT on Hearst Campus. Mars Investigation had just recently hired a new receptionist, but Mac still helped Mr. Mars with his tech needs.

There was a lot of shouting and yelling coming towards her on the sidewalk and Mac noticed a gaggle of boys running towards her. She jumped off the sidewalk and on to the grass to keep from getting run over.

She laughed as she watched the boys in their underwear running past in high-heels. There were at least 15 guys, so Mac assumed this was a Hell Week hazing.

"What are you doing out this time of night?"

Mac jumped at the voice standing behind her and very close to her ear. When she spun around, Dick was standing in front of her in jeans and a Pi Sig t-shirt.

"I just got done installing some new equipment in one of the research labs and was heading to my dorm, but was almost trampled by guys in heels."

"Just goes to show you that it isn't safe to walk around alone this time of night. Let me walk to your dorm."

"Don't you have some ritual hazing to be doing to those poor unfortunate, lost souls?"

Dick laughed. "The rest of the brothers are with them. They're fine. Besides, they end their run on that side of campus, so consider it a shortcut." They began walking towards the dorm. "Are you normally out this late working?"

Mac shook her head. "No. But the tech I was working with had to bail on me. Something about taking his roommate to the hospital for having a testicular contusion from jumping on the mascot statue with the idea that he was going to try riding it."

He grimaced. "Ouch."

* * *

Late August 2007

"So explain to me why you're wearing a miniskirt and the color pink. Plus you have on more make-up than usual and you haven't curled your hair since high school."

The three friends were walking towards the Pi Sig house for the annual party that they throw at the end of the first week of classes.

"Well Wallace. I lost a bet to Logan and he decided to have me dress like a girl as payment." Mac was wearing a short jean skirt and a low-cut hot pink silk top with light pink lace trim. Luckily, she was able to at least wear flip-flops instead of heels, which Logan tried hard to convince her to put on.

Piz chimed in. "What bet?"

"That Dick couldn't pick out which picture was mine on the Grade My Ass website. I still think Logan cheated and gave him a clue."

Wallace laughed. "Or he stares at it enough in real life that he would recognize it anywhere."

"I doubt that." Mac swatted him on the chest.

At the front door to the party, some of Dick's frat brothers were selling cups. Mac turned to the boys before they went up the steps.

"I got these back for you." She handed the boys the fake IDs Veronica had made them last year. "But they are to only be used at frat parties. No going to legit businesses and buying drinks."

"Did Mr. Mars give these to you?" Wallace asked.

"Not exactly." Mac gave a guilty grin. "More like handed them to me and told me to destroy them."

"Man, Veronica rubbed off on you." Wallace gave a wide mouth laugh. "Time to party."

They purchased their beer cups and walked into the house. Mac looked around for Logan, so she could go ahead and let him see her.

"Hi there." Some guy was standing in front of her.

"Hello." Mac moved to go around him, but he moved to block her.

"Are you new to Hearst? I'm a junior. My name's Kyle."

"No, I'm a sophomore and I'm looking for someone." She moved passed him.

"I'll see you around sophomore."

Mac walked up to Logan who was talking to a tall brunette. "Hey Logan."

"Mac. The bet looks good on you." He grinned and gave her a whistle.

"Thanks. I still think you cheated." The girl rolled her eyes at Mac and walked away. "I think I just cock blocked you."

"Nah. I wasn't that interested in her anyway. Not my type." He took out his phone and took a step back. "Picture time." She stuck her tongue out at him and he took a photo of Mac. "That one's for the scrapbook." Logan finished his beer. "You're cup's empty. Would you care to accompany me to get them filled?"

Mac nodded and followed Logan to one of the beer kegs that was being manned by Dick.

"Hey Dick. Look who I found." Logan handed him the two cups.

Dick looked around Logan to the girl in the jean skirt and pink top. Then his eyes traveled up to her face and he recognized Mac. "Wow." Dick shook his head. "I mean hey Mac. You look slammin'."

Mac blushed at the complement. "Thanks."

Dick filled the first cup and handed it to Mac and was filling Logan's cup when Charleston came up next to him. "I'm here to take over."

"Sure thing dude. Just let me fill a cup for me and then I'm off." Dick quickly filled a cup and joined Mac and Logan. "So having fun?"

Logan eyed a girl that was walking by. "I'm about to be." He walked away and followed the petite blonde.

"He certainly has a type." Mac laughed and shook her head.

Dick nodded. "So this is the getup that Logan put you in? It's smokin'." From where he was standing he could see a little down her shirt and gave Logan a silent thank you in his head.

Mac nodded. "Be honest with me. Did he tell you which picture to pick? Like use a signal of something?"

Dick shook his head. "I told you, I'm an ass expert." He didn't want to mention that he stared at her backside enough that he's sure he could pick it out of any line up.

The house was packed and Mac was pushed against Dick. "Sorry. It's a little too crowded in here."

Dick nodded. "I can fix that." He grabbed her hand and pulled her to the stairs. Once they were upstairs, he pulled her into Charleston's bedroom.

"Um…why are we in someone's bedroom? Granted it is less crowded."

Dick pulled her by the hand to the far wall and let go while he opened the window. "We can hang out on the roof and listen to music without being pushed and shoved."

Mac smiled up at him. "Smart thinking."

They climbed out the window and sat down on the rooftop just in view of the band performing in the backyard, but also far enough away that they could still hear each other over the music.

"How are you holding up since your dad went to prison yesterday?" Mac looked over at him.

Dick knew she was worried about him, but didn't really want to talk about it because he was actually better now that his dad was gone. "I'm good. It's a relief. No more trying to force a relationship with him. Can we not talk about that though? This is a party." He gestured to the people below.

She gave him that knowing smile she had that always made Dick feel understood, which wasn't something he had ever felt from anyone but Logan.

"So, why aren't you down there scamming on chicks?" Mac motioned to the mass of people in the backyard as she leaned back on her elbows.

"Excuse me. Chicks? Don't you mean women or ladies?" He looked down at her. The way she looked made his pulse race. Her hair fell and the ends skimmed the roof below her. He noticed she added more blonde highlights to her hair and her skin had become tan over the summer from how long they spent at the beach. But mostly it was the way her eyes sparkled when she smiled that always got him.

Mac imitated a surfer voice. "Dude, I was using your lingo." She laughed. "This is a frat house, aren't you supposed to say chicks? Anyway back to the point, why are you up here with me when you would be down there finding some girl with loose morals?"

"Maybe I'm changing my ways." He hadn't been with anyone since before his dad got back. In fact, Dick was sure that it's been nearly five months since he'd had sex, which is the longest he's ever gone since becoming sexually active.

"Oh yeah. How's that?" She took a sip of her beer and look at him expectantly.

"Maybe I want someone who I can have more than sex with. Like a meaningful relationship." What he really wanted was to be more than just friends with Mac, but he was scared she would laugh at the idea.

"You were married, that wasn't meaningful enough for you?"

Dick hung his head in embarrassment. "I hate that I told you that. Marrying her was a drunken, stupid idea." He chanced a glance back at her and saw she her sit up straighter. "What's the matter?"

"It's my ex, Max and he's girlfriend, Wendy." Mac pointed down to the crowd. "He must be here networking his study guide business."

Dick looked down at the couple Mac pointed to. "His loss. You're way hotter than her."

Mac laughed and gently pushed him. "You're deluded. How much have you had to drink?"

Dick rolled her eyes. He couldn't believe that she didn't know how attractive she was. "Seriously Mac? You're beautiful. Anyone can see that." He took a sip of his beer.

Mac turned her head to look at Dick. "What?"

"What?" He was genuinely confused.

"You think I'm beautiful?" She seemed skeptical.

"Well yeah. Wait. You don't?" Normally when he told a girl she was attractive, she would just accept it as fact. But since Mac truly seemed to not realize how pretty she was, Dick thought she was even more beautiful than before.

Mac shook her head. "Cute maybe, even a little pretty, but beautiful and hot…"

"You really don't see it do you? See you're beautiful both inside and out." Dick placed a hand on her cheek and pulled her to look at him. "You have no idea how gorgeous you are?"

Mac's breath caught.

Dick took a chance by leaning down and gently placing a kiss on her lips. When he pulled back, he watched her face to gage her reaction. He was optimistic that she didn't push him away again, but also prayed that she wouldn't jump up and run away.

Mac touched her lips where Dick had just kissed her. She knew that she was attracted to Dick and that they had become close over the past couple of months, but she had never entertained the idea of Dick as more than a friend. Now though, he had kissed her, which changed everything. She wasn't sure what exactly she felt for Dick now or whether she wanted to be more than friends, but she did know that she wanted to kiss him again. Figuring that was a start, Mac leaned forward and placed a kiss on Dick's lips.

She ended the kiss and slowly pulled away. "Well that just happened." Mac felt a blush cover her cheeks.

"Yeah it did." Dick's face lit up with his goofy grin.

Mac's phone began to ring and she pulled it out of her pocket to see Wallace's face. "What's up Wally?"

 _Don't call me that. Where are you?_

"Hiding."

 _Yeah, I figured that since I couldn't find you. Where?_

Mac looked down into the crowd in the backyard. She could see Wallace standing on a chair looking through the crowd directly in front of her. "On the roof, behind you."

Wallace turned around and looked at her before hanging up his phone. "Hey. So we're heading out. You coming or can you get someone else to walk you back?"

Before Mac could answer Dick spoke up. "I'll walk her back."

Wallace knowingly smiled. "I thought you might say that. Good night you two." He waved before jumping off the chair and walking away.

Mac leaned back on the roof and bit her lip thinking about what had just happened and how it changed everything. After what felt like an hour of silence, but realistically was probably about two minutes Mac stated, "What excellent boiled potatoes."

Dick laughed. "I think that dinner was more awkward than this."

Mac turned in shook. "You understood a _Pride and Prejudice_ reference?"

"We went to the same high school. I had to read it too." She gave him a look that said she didn't believe him. "Okay fine. I watched the movie." He downed the last of his beer. "You want to head back to your dorm?"

Mac nodded.

They left the Pi Sig house and began walking towards the dorms. At first they tried to talk about normal things, but after a while they walked in silence. Dick was trying to figure out what to say to Mac. He was thrilled when she kissed him back, but he knew he had changed everything when he kissed her and may have just ruined a friendship that he depended on.

"Soooooo." Mac stated as she avoided making eye contact. "You kissed me."

Dick looked at her. "You kissed me."

"Yeah. Why did you kiss me?" Mac wasn't sure what he's motive was and was trying to figure out how he felt about it because maybe that would help her figure her own feelings out.

"Because I wanted to. Why'd you kiss me?"

Mac bit her lip. "Because I wanted to."

When he kissed her, Mac's heart began to race and she had butterflies in her stomach. While she had been kissed before, she had never experienced something so mind-blowing as kissing Dick. She thought about all the times they had spent alone together and how Dick was always a gentleman, well perverted gentleman. Sure, she liked him, but now this was more than just as friends, but she wasn't sure if that was what Dick wanted. Mac wasn't a one night stand kind of girl.

They arrived in front of Mac's dorm room. She took out her key and opened the door before walking in and turning on the light. Parker was at a friend's apartment and told Mac that she may stay over. Mac turned in the doorway to see Dick standing in the hall.

"I guess good night." Mac bit her lip thinking about how much she wanted Dick to kiss her again.

Dick nodded. "Good night." He turned and began to walk back down the hall.

Mac began to close her door when a hand stopped her. She looked up to see Dick standing in front of her. He pulled her towards him and crashed his lips onto hers. Mac fisted his shirt and pulled him into the room before closing the door with her foot.


	6. Chapter 6

**Thanks for all the positive feedback for this story. This chapter consists of several short scenes that are just laying ground work. I did change my mind and put a small** **glimpse into the frat party where Mac runs.**

Chapter 6

Mid October 2007

"I'm so sorry Mac." Parker grabbed her and pulled Mac around so they were face to face.

Mac shook her head. She couldn't believe how stupid she had been. He hadn't changed as all; Dick was still the same perverted asshole he'd always been. She hated herself for falling for him.

"I'm so stupid. I guess I deserve what I get for being so dumb." She turned and began pushing her way through the crowd.

* * *

Late August 2007

Mac woke up the night after the Pi Sig party with a smile plastered on her face even though the annoying alarm clock was going off. Meeting Logan and Dick to continue her surf lessons after a late night was not Mac's idea of fun, but then she remembered that Dick was going to be there and everything from the previous night.

If Parker hadn't walked in on Mac and Dick making out on the bed, then Mac was pretty sure that they would have done more than just second base. Dick fell off the bed when Parker coughed from the doorway. Parker then reminded Mac that the same system from last year was in place to prevent uncomfortable moments. After Parker went to her side of the room, Mac said good night to Dick for the second time from her doorway. But before he walked away, he reminded her about surfing in the morning.

When she made it to the beach, Mac saw the two guys standing by Dick's truck unloading their surfboards. She parked her car next to them and got out. Mac wasn't sure what last night meant to Dick, but she was looking at him in a whole new way.

"So who's idea was it that we had to get up this early after a frat party?" She walked around to stand next to Logan and accepted the coffee he offered her.

Dick let down the tailgate and grinned at her. "That would be Logan."

Logan shrugged. "So let's do this!"

Dick handed Logan his board and watched as he took off towards the water.

"Hey Mackie." Dick pulled her board down. Logan and he had bought it for her when she agreed to let them teach her how to surf. She stepped towards him to grab the board, but Dick pulled her behind it to shield them from Logan seeing and gave her a soft kiss.

Mac pulled away and blushed. "Hello to you too."

He began pulling his board out of the bed of the truck. "So I was wondering…if you were busy tonight…I mean…I was thinking we could maybe have dinner…if you're interested…Just us." Dick had asked girls out before, but for some reason this time it came out as a blubbering mess.

"I'd like that." Mac gave him a sweet smile.

He closed the tailgate of his truck. "You know I mean as a date, right?"

Mac's smile grew and she nodded as they began walking towards the water.

* * *

Labor Day Weekend 2007

Dick was antsy as he watched Logan packing for the extended weekend. He was going on a surfing trip to Mexico, but Dick had explained that he couldn't make it since he was planning to go visit his father for the holiday. While it wasn't exactly a lie, it wasn't the truth either. Big Dick was supposed to call him sometime this weekend and Dick had ever intention of answering the phone, if he wasn't busy.

What Dick really planned to do was figure out what exactly was going on with him and Mac. They had gone to dinner the previous weekend alone, had lunch together three times last week but with others around, hung out at the penthouse with Logan, and had two steamy make-out sessions between classes in Mac's dorm room. However, they had never actually talked about what they were doing.

When Dick told Mac he was staying in town for the weekend, she suggested they hang out. That was why Dick was standing in Logan's doorway annoyed that he was taking his precious time getting packed and on the road.

"Dude, I thought you wanted to get down there before all the parties finish up. As it is now, you won't get there until after ten." Logan had told Dick that he was planning to be on the road what was now thirty minutes ago. Dick had invited Mac to there any minute and he didn't want to deal with Logan's questions.

Logan looked up at him. "You got a hot date or something?"

Dick jumped a few times and shook his body in frustration. "Dude, just go."

"If you had told me you had a hot babe coming by, I would have put a little more fire under my ass. Who is she?" Logan's eyes widened in excitement.

There was a knock on the penthouse door. Logan grinned at Dick as he grabbed his bags. "I think I'll be going now. I'll just let your lady friend in."

Dick followed Logan to the door cursing under his breath. When Logan opened the door Dick saw Mac standing there. He mouthed the word sorry to her.

"Hey Logan! I thought you were supposed to be off living it up in Mexico."

Logan looked between Mac and Dick while a smile grew across his face. "Aren't you two just adorable?"

"Dude!"

"As much as I'd love to stay and chat, I really must be going. Tootles." Logan waved with his fingers as he walked out the door, past Mac, and towards the elevator. "Remember no love without a glove."

Mac bit her lips and grimaced as she walked into the penthouse and closed the door. "Logan can be such a jackass." She dropped her purse on the couch.

"Nah. He's just a tortured, lovesick puppy."

"I would rather not talk about that epic story."

"Me either." Dick took a few steps towards her and wrapped his arms around her waist before leaning down to kiss her. He moved her back onto the couch and positioned himself lying on top and to one side of her.

"Geez. I was gone for like five seconds." Logan stated as he walked by the couch and towards his room.

Dick picked his head up and narrowed his eyes at Logan as Mac jumped out from under him. "Why are you back?"

Logan went into his room and then came out with a small backpack. "I forgot something." He walked next to the couch where Mac and Dick were now seated next to one another. "Cold spell my ass. Cover your stump before you hump."

"Get out!" Dick stood and followed Logan to the door. Standing in the doorway he leaned into the hall. "Why are you being such a tool?"

"Speaking of tools…"

Dick slammed the door before Logan could finish what he was saying. He threw on the deadbolt before turning and heading back to the couch.

"Sorry about that." Dick looked down at Mac who was looking down into her lap.

"What are we doing?"

Dick flopped down next to her on the couch. "I don't know." He rubbed his hand on the back of his neck. "I like you and I don't mean as a friend."

Mac looked at him sideways.

"I mean I like you as a friend." Dick rolled his eyes and mentally slapped himself as he stared at the floor in front of him. "You're one of my best friends. But I like you as more than a friend. I don't know what we are, but I like being with you." Mac started to giggle and Dick whipped his head up to look at her. "You don't have to laugh at me."

Her laugh got louder. "I'm sorry." She waved her hands in front of her and calmed down. "I knew what you meant the first time." Mac nudged him with her shoulder. "I like you as more than a friend too. We don't have to define this, you know. Let's just see where it goes."

A smile grew over Dick's face. "Sounds like a plan." He leaned over and placed a quick kiss on Mac's lips.

Mac was relieved to know that Dick wasn't sure what exactly they were doing, but he was thinking of them as more than just friends. Mac took the initiative and began kissing Dick before she moved to straddle him on the couch. After a few minutes of making out, Mac pulled at Dick's shirt and he pulled back to take it off. He placed his hands at the edge of hers and raised his eyebrows to ask for permission. Mac pulled the t-shirt off to reveal a black lace bra that she had worn just in case.

Dick let out a slow breath as he gazed at her. "Wow."

Mac blushed. "You should see the matching underwear."

Dick attacked her mouth and stood up holding Mac's legs so she would wrap them around his waist. He carefully carried her into his bedroom and to his bed.

* * *

Mid September 2007

A phone was ringing. Mac lifted her face from the comfy pillow it was on and moved the guy's arm off of her waist. She grabbed her phone and clicked answer as she looked back at Dick's sleeping form. It still surprises her how normal this has become over the past two weeks since Labor Day weekend.

She moved to get out of bed and felt an arm wrap around her and pull her back.

"Nope." Dick mumbled next to her.

Mac rolled her eyes and brought her attention back to the phone. "Hello."

 _Hey Mac. It's Daniel. We had a call in from one of the research labs. They have an IT problem and requested you._

"Oh ok. Who?"

 _Gil Pardy. You helped him last year when someone broke into the lab and freed the animals. He didn't tell me what's the matter, just asked for you._

"I remember him. What's the number? I'll call him and see what's up.

Mac got the number and hung up with Daniel. She moved to get out of the bed again, but Dick pulled her back.

"Stop trying to leave."

"I need to make a work call."

Dick lifted his head up. "And you can't do that from the comfort of this bed?"

She rolled her eyes. "Fine." Mac dialed Gil's number. "Hey Gil. It's Mac. I hear you have a problem."

 _Mac. Thank god. So the new monkey we got is an ass. He got out of the cage and broke my laptop._

Mac suppressed a laugh. "Is the monkey currently threatening you?" She noticed Dick's eyes open and his head turn to look at her with interest.

 _We got him back in the cage, but the laptop is a mess._

"Ok. Give me an hour and I'll be there. However, if the monkey starts another rebellion, then let me know. I've seen _Planet of the Apes_." She hung up with Gil.

Dick sat up. "Since when do you deal with rebel monkeys?"

Mac laughed. "The monkey broke his laptop."

"So why did they call you. Couldn't someone else take care of it? I thought you were off this morning and didn't have class until this afternoon." He pouted at her.

She sighed and got out of bed. "I am, but Gil needs my help. Plus, it was a crazy monkey. Who can turn down a crazy monkey?" Mac grabbed her overnight bag and went into Dick's bathroom. She popped her head out of the bathroom. "I have an hour until I have to be there. If your interested in joining me."

Dick jumped out of bed and followed her into the shower.

* * *

Late September

Dick entered the Pi Sig house for the required meeting and was instantly greeted by Chip.

"Hey man. Where you been hiding lately? Haven't seen much of you around the house." Chip gave Dick a pat on the back.

"Dude. I've just been busy. So what's this big meeting about that we were all required to be at?"

"Oh just wait. You'll love it. I promise it'll excite you for sure."

The frat brothers gathered in the living room and Chip along with the other officers stood in front of them. The vice-president, Kyle, started the meeting by taking attendance and updating the brothers on the finances and last month's activities. There were some other mundane business addressed in the meeting before Chip finally made an announcement.

"Thank you everyone for making time to be here tonight. Last year was rough on us as a frat. We weren't able to fully participate in all the activities we would normally have." Chip announced. "That is why we decided to add a fall Sex Quest."

Dick cringed internally. Normally the adding an addition Sex Quest would make him thrilled, but he didn't want to think about Mac as points and cheating for points wasn't an option.

Chip raised his hands to the crowd that was cheering. "Now, I know a few of you have girlfriends. Remember if you have a girlfriend then you are exempt from having to participate. Okay, so that's it. Everyone have a good night!"

The group broke up, so Dick got up and walked over to Chip.

"Dude. Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Chip nodded. "Sure man. What can I do for you?"

"I need to be exempt. I have a girlfriend." Dick stuck his hands in his pockets because as much as he liked referring to Mac as his girlfriend, he didn't know how she would feel about it.

Chip's mouth dropped open. "Since when?"

"Just a few weeks now. It's kind of why I've been busy lately."

"Well, okay then. I'll put you on the exempt list. Man, I thought you would be racing for the top spot and give me some competition."

Dick nodded. "Normally I would, but this girl is a game changer."

"She must be." He held out his hand and Dick accepted it to do a special handshake that ended with a chest bump.

He left the house about 15 minutes later and texted Mac that he needed to talk to her. She was working for the IT Helpdesk that evening, but he knew she should be getting off work soon so he headed over to the office.

Mac walked out of the building right as Dick got there. She approached him. "Hey. What are you doing on campus this late?"

"I had a meeting at the frat house." Dick leaned down and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. "Which is why I need to talk to you." They started walking towards Mac's dorm. "The Pi Sigs are adding a fall Sex Quest."

"Oh." Mac was looking at the ground as she walked.

"So, the brothers who have girlfriends are exempt from the Sex Quest. I told Chip that I had a girlfriend. I didn't know if you would be okay with that." He looked down at her to gage her reaction.

A slow smile spread across Mac's face and she slid her hand into his. "Sounds good to me."

Dick stopped and pulled her to face him. "Really?"

Nodding, "Really."

"Good." He pulled her to him and pressed a kiss to her lips.


	7. Chapter 7

**There is a lot that happens in this chapter. You finally see what happens at the frat party.**

 **Thank you for all the positive feedback. Please keep reviewing and letting me know what you think.**

Chapter 7

Next Night

Dick went by Mac's dorm room to pick her up for a date. He hadn't been this nervous since their first date and had to rub his hands on his jeans before he knocked on the door. He was fidgeting with the collar of his oxford shirt when Mac opened the door and smiled up at him.

"Hey." She was dressed in dark jeans with a red v-neck top that showed a black lace camisole under it and black flats. Her hair was down in loose curls.

He couldn't help but smile at how beautiful she looked. "You look wow…I mean you look beautiful." Dick bent down to give her a kiss.

"Thank you." A blush crossed her cheeks.

Dick took her to a new restaurant that just opened and had a large vegetarian menu. She had mentioned that she wanted to try it a few nights ago, so Dick thought it would be a great place to take her on their first official date since she agreed to be his girlfriend.

When they arrived at the restaurant, Mac was excited and pleased with his choice, which gave him a boost of confidence.

"I've wanted to try this place."

Dick let go of her hand and opened the door for her. "I know. You mentioned it last week to Parker when we were at lunch. I overheard." He shrugged.

Mac smiled at him. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Paying attention." She tugged on his shirt so he would lean down and then gave him a kiss.

They left the restaurant stuffed so Dick suggested they take a walk on the beach across the street. Stopping at his truck, they deposited their shoes and made their way down the shore. He held her hand in his and lifted it to his lips to lay a kiss.

"So I got you a little something." He reached his free hand into his pocket and then handed Mac a small velvet bag.

Mac looked at it curiously before letting go of his hand to open the bag. She pulled out a silver necklace with a Pi Sigma Sigma charm. "A fraternity necklace?"

"It's a lavalier. It's a fraternity tradition. It means that we're in a committed relationship." Dick felt kind of silly giving her his letters, but he wanted to make sure his brothers knew she was off limits for the Sex Quest. If she wore the letters, then none of the guys were allowed to go after her for points.

"Oh." She handed him the necklace. "Can you put it on me?" Mac turned around and pulled her hair up.

Dick was excited that she didn't make fun of the gesture. "Of course." After connecting the clasp, he placed a kiss on the back of her neck. "Thank you."

Mac turned around to face him. "For what?"

"For being my girlfriend." He thumbed the charm. "Wearing this means a lot you know? It tells everyone that I'm serious about you."

"Then I'll always wear it."

Dick leaned down and captured her lips with his. This moment could have not worked out any better and he now felt like an idiot that he was so nervous about giving her the necklace. Everything with Mac was going perfect and Dick hadn't been this happy before.

* * *

Early October

Mac was sitting in the cafeteria eating lunch with Parker when Dick flipped a chair around and straddled it so he was facing her before dropped his books on the table.

Ever since he gave her the necklace, Mac felt more confident in their relationship. She finally had told Veronica she was dating Dick after that night, which after some convincing Veronica had decided to offer her worried approval. Mac understood that Veronica had history, which prevented her from trusting Dick, however Mac explained how happy she was, so Veronica had been forced to accept it.

"Hey babe." He stole a fry off her plate.

"Hey. What are you up to?" She leaned over the give him a quick kiss on the lips.

Dick stole another fry. "I brought you something." He opened a book and pulled out a photo envelope. "I printed the photos from this summer. So I thought I'd make you copies."

"Thanks. I'm a little scared to see what's in here." Over the summer when Mac was hanging out with Logan and Dick, she found that they liked to take photographic evidence of their crazy antics.

He smiled at her and winked as he handed her the package.

Mac wiped her hands on a napkin and opened the envelope to see what was there. The first photo was from the night with the tequila shots when they played 'I Never' of her and Logan with lime wedges in their mouths as teeth. She saw a photo from the July Fourth party of the three of them clinking bottles. There were a few from different nights at the penthouse while they played video games. Plus several of Mac with one of the two guys who were trying to teach her how to surf.

Then at the back of the photos she sees a few that made her remember the Labor Day weekend she spent with Dick. There were four photos of just close ups of Mac and Dick with a white background that she knew to be pillows. She remembers him taking the photos after the first time they slept together. He told Mac that he wanted to remember this moment, so he pulled the camera out and positioned it to only show them from the neck up and took a few pictures. Her lightened hair was draped to the side and Dick was wearing a goofy grin. Mac smiled at the photos because they were of such a wonderful intimate moment that she's glad to have a record of.

Dick put his chin on her shoulder and whispered in her ear. "That one's my favorite."

Mac was holding the fourth photo where she was laughing hard and Dick's face is in the crook of her neck. He had been making growling noises as he pretended to bit her neck, which made her laugh uncontrollably.

The next picture showed Mac kissing Dick's cheek as he grinned at the camera. Mac pointed at the photo. "This is my favorite. I think I'll frame it for my desk."

When she turned to the last picture of the pack, she saw Logan must have taken it. It showed her and Dick laying on the couch cuddled up sleeping. Dick was spooning her with his arm out for her to use as a pillow and each of her hands was holding his.

Mac placed the photos back into the envelope and then slid them into her laptop bag. "Thank you." She kissed Dick on the lips, but flinched when she felt something hit her face. Mac looked over at Parker.

"I'll throw more fries if you two get all cutesy again. I'm trying to eat here and that is destroying my appetite." Parker held up another fry as a warning.

Dick stood up. "I need to get to class anyway." He quickly leaned down and pressed a firm, noisy kiss to Mac's lips as Parker hit him with several fries. When he pulled back he looked at Parker. "You're getting awfully bitter at your young age. Too bad you ruined those fries."

* * *

Later that Day

Dick stopped by the Pi Sig house to hang out with a few of the guys since Logan had a late class and Mac was working the IT Helpdesk. He hadn't been by the house since the last meeting when Sex Quest was announced.

"Dick! Man, how ya been?" Chip held out a hand to Dick and they bro hugged.

"Good dude. Lovin' life."

"So I've been meaning to ask you about your girlfriend. Are you ever planning to bring her by to meet your brothers? I saw you two in the cafeteria the other day."

"Yeah. We'll probably be at the party in a couple of weeks." Dick was looking forward to bringing Mac to the next Pi Sig party. He hoped they could spend the night on the roof like they did the first time. That was the best frat party he'd ever been too and it didn't involve the usual frat party rituals of beer pong and keg stands.

"She looked familiar, but I can't figure out how I know her."

Dick opened his mouth to try to answer even though he wasn't sure how Chip would have ever met Mac before.

Kyle walked up and patted Dick on the back. "Yo! What's up?"

Chip jumped in. "He was just about to tell me about his girlfriend."

"Oh yeah. I heard you aren't part of Sex Quest. So who's this little hottie that has your undivided attention?" Kyle asked.

Dick pulled out his envelope of photos that he printed that morning and found one of him and Mac at the beach during July Fourth. She was wearing a dress over her swimsuit and Dick had an arm around her shoulders while he was cheering at Logan who took the picture.

Kyle looked at the picture. "I know her. She's that hot sophomore I met at our first party this year. Didn't catch her name though because she brushed me off. Nice Dick." He held out a fist for Dick to bump.

"That makes me really glad that I lavaliered her, so guys won't hit on her." Dick hesitated but since he never turned down a fist bump he tapped his fist against Kyle.

"Whoa man. You lavaliered her? Wow. I never thought I'd see the day when you were that serious about a chick." Chip looked at the photo again. "I know how I know her. She's the nerdy friend of Veronica Mars."

"Yeah that's her." Dick put the picture back in the pack and closed it in his book before setting them down on the end table.

"She looks good with the lighter hair. Less punk and all. Congrats man." Chip gave him a questioning look. "Didn't she date your brother?"

Dick stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Yeah, back in high school for a split second. She's…like…the only person who understands about him. She's really cool."

"I'm glad. Sounds like she's good for you then."

* * *

Mid October

Parker and Mac arrived at the Pi Sig party. For once Mac was actually excited to attend a frat party because she hoped that Dick would take her back on the roof to enjoy the festivities. She had dressed in a pair of jeans with a light blue wrap top that showed off the necklace that Dick had given her. Parker had even persuaded Mac to wear a pair of silver ballet flats.

They approached the table to buy their cups. Mac got out her ID to be checked and then turned to purchase a beer cup.

"Oh hey! I know you. No charge." The guy at the desk told Mac.

"Oh thanks." She took the cup he handed her and walked into the house. Mac leaned towards Parker. "Was that weird to you?"

Parker smiled and pointed at Mac's chest. "Or they know whose girlfriend you are?"

Mac held the necklace in her fingers. "I didn't realize this necklace came with magical powers. Speaking of my boyfriend, I should probably find that goofy blonde guy."

As if on cue, Mac noticed Dick walking towards her. "What brings you ladies here tonight?"

Mac looks at Parker. "We were hoping to find some hot guys to take home. Do you know anyone who would be interested?"

Dick pulled her to him. "I probably know several guys, too bad I'd never introduce you to them." He felt a pat on his shoulder and turned to see Kyle standing next to him. "And here is one now."

"Want to introduce me to your friends?" Kyle raked his eyes over both Mac and Parker.

"This is my _girlfriend_ , Mac and her roommate Parker." Dick turned to the girls. "This is Kyle."

"Ladies. It's a pleasure. Parker, may I take you to get a drink?" Kyle offered his hand to her and then led her towards the kegs.

Mac and Dick went to the kegs and filled their cups before heading out Charleston's window onto the roof.

"I'll always have fond memories of this roof." Dick positioned himself so Mac was sitting between his legs.

"Me too." Mac leaned back into his chest. Then she spotted a familiar face in the crowd below and pointed towards it. "I see Logan made it out."

Dick looked down to where she was pointing. "Yup."

"He looks annoyed." Mac giggled at the face Logan was making at the girl he was stuck in a conversation with. "Poor guy."

"But he'll put up with it." Dick took a sip from his cup.

"Why?"

"Because he wants to get laid, but doesn't want the hassle of an emotional connection."

Mac pulled away from Dick and turned to look at him. "What? Logan is mister brooding sensitive. How could he not want an emotional connection to someone?"

"Because he already gave his heart away. The dude will be in love with Ronnie until the day he dies." Dick rolled his eyes and took another drink from his cup. A vibration went off in Dick's pocket.

"Is that your phone or are you happy to see me?" Mac joked at him.

"Both." Dick pulled the phone out of his pocket and answered it. After a brief conversation he turned his attention back to Mac. "They need me downstairs. Do you want to wait here for me?"

Mac stood up. "Actually, I'll go down too and check on Parker." She pointed to where Parker was talking to Kyle and she was looking pissed off.

"Okay." Dick helped her back inside and they headed downstairs. "It'll only be about 10 minutes. I'll come find you." He quickly kissed her before separating.

Mac walked out into the backyard and directly up to Parker. "Hey Parker. How's it going?"

Parker glared her eyes at Kyle and then turned to Mac. "Let's go inside." She grabbed Mac's hand and began dragging her back into the house.

Mac was confused as to why Parker was in such a hurry and seemed furious. "Where are we going?"

"To the basement."

Once down the stairs, Parker flipped on the light and looked at the board that contained the point system to the Sex Quest. Mac realized that Parker was probably still upset about the frat's misogynistic game. She noticed Parker raking her eyes over every inch of the board looking for something. "Parker?"

"Damn it!" Parker rubbed her eyes. "I was hoping it wasn't true."

Mac looked at Parker. "What's the matter?" She followed Parker's gaze to see a photo of her and Dick. It was one that he took after the first time they had sex. She gasped and shook her head. "He isn't participating."

"He got a D for you. That's 500 in roman numerals. Kyle called you a unicorn because you're a mythical creature. You broke the previous record. Something about your score doubling because of what happened with his brother."

Mac felt her pulse quicken and tears begin to build in her eyes. She couldn't believe she had trusted him and allowed him to play her. One part of her brain kept saying that it wasn't true and to look at the evidence of their time together, but then she couldn't take her eyes off the photo. Only Dick could have provided the board that picture. It was just another Casablancas trying to destroy her and Mac wasn't going to let him. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialed.

 _Hello._

"I need you to come get me. I'm at the Pi Sig house."

 _You okay?_

"How soon can you be here?"

 _I just got done with work and am still on campus by my bike. Give me two minutes."_

"Thank you."

 _I got you chica._

Mac put the phone back in her pocket and stormed back up the stairs. She opened the door to a wall of people laughing.

"I'm so sorry Mac." Parker grabbed her and pulled Mac around so they were face to face.

Mac shook her head. She couldn't believe how stupid she had been. He hadn't changed as all; Dick was still the same perverted asshole he'd always been. She hated herself for falling for him.

"I'm so stupid. I can't believe I trusted him. I guess I deserve what I get for being so dumb." She turned and began pushing her way through the crowd.

"Hey babe!" Dick grabbed her hand while he pushed between two guys. "I've been looking for you everywhere."

Mac pulled her hand from his grasp. "Leave me alone." Being a smaller female, she was able to skirt around people and leave him calling after he. Unfortunately, she stumbled into Logan near the door to the Pi Sig house.

"Hey Mac! That boyfriend of yours was looking for you." Logan grinned down at her.

Mac scowled at him. "What boyfriend?"

His face fell. "What happened?"

"I'm an idiot. That's what happened." Mac looked to her right to see Dick pushing through the crowd. She quickly moved to the left and out the front door.

"Mac!"

She heard him calling her name as she ran from the frat house and towards the man sitting on the running motorcycle at the curb.

"You okay chica?" Weevil asked while he handed her his helmet.

Mac could still hear him calling her name behind her and shook her head, then put the helmet on before climbing on behind him. She looked back as they pulled away to see that Dick Casablancas had just reached the curb.

"What happened? Mac?!" He waved his arms at her.

Weevil drove her back towards the dorms and pulled over in front of hers. Mac got off the bike.

"I need to grab a few things and then can you take me somewhere else. I can't stay here tonight, it's the first place Dick will look."

Weevil nodded. "Of course. Hurry and grab your things before he shows up."

Mac was back out in five minutes with a backpack.

"Where should I take you?"

"I don't know." Mac hadn't thought that far ahead. She debated on going to her parents but didn't want to deal with the questions it would raise.

"How about we go to my place and decide there?"

Mac nodded. "Thank you."

Mac had met Weevil at his apartment a few times to tutor him and was familiar enough to walk in after he unlocked the door and drop on the couch. She was still beating herself up and just need a place to think.

"You're welcome to crash here, but I'm sure white boy's going to come looking for you."

"Yeah. I suspect that. Maybe I could stay with Mr. Mars in Veronica's room?"

Weevil sat down next to her on the couch. "Call V. She may have an idea."

Mac pulled her phone out and dialed Veronica.

 _Hey Q! I thought you had party plans tonight?_

"Yeah. I did and boy was it a party."

 _What happened?_

"Let's just say there is a Pi Sig out there with a massive amount of Sex Quest points. There was a picture of us on the board in the basement."

 _I'll kill him._

"I can handle it. I just need a place to hide out for a while. Any ideas?"


	8. Chapter 8

**For all of you who have asked, there will be some LoVe later in this story. I just have some things that have to happen first. Just stick with me and we will get there.**

 **I kind of wrote the last chapter and this one together and then separated it into two chapters. So this is a quick update from the chapter I posted last night.**

 **Please let me know what you think.**

 **The end of this chapter has a quick but upsetting scene, so be warned.**

Chapter 8

Later that Night

Weevil woke up to a pounding on his door and rolled over to see that is was 2:47AM. He was actually impressed that Dick was able to find out where he lived in less than three hours. He climbed out of bed in his boxers and didn't bother putting on a shirt as he went to the door.

When he opened it, he saw not only Dick, but also Logan standing there. "I wasn't expecting company." Dick stormed past him into the apartment. "Please come in." He watched as Dick checked his bedroom and then bathroom. "Make yourself at home." He motioned for Logan to come inside.

Dick came to stand in front of Weevil who had just closed the door. "Where's Mac?"

"I'll give you a clue. Not here."

Dick pushed Weevil against the door.

"Logan, you better get your boy under control." He waited for Logan to pull Dick away. "All I know is she's staying with a friend. I brought her here and then her friend picked her up."

Logan chimed in. "Okay Paco. Why did you come get Mac?"

"I have the same deal with her as Veronica. If they need help, they just have to call. It's my service to them for all the help they've given me."

Dick took a deep breath. "So she called you. Why?"

"Look. Mac's my friend, not you. So I don't gotta explain, but I will tell you to stay away from her."

Dick balled his hands into fists and started at Weevil, but Logan grabbed him from under his arms and hauled him to the door.

"Cool down man." Logan pushed him out the door and towards the car. "Thanks for nothing amigo."

* * *

Monday Morning

Mac decided to skip her first class, which was a large lecture for Film Studies and because of the number of students the professor never took role. She also thought that Dick might use it as a way to find her. Weevil called her to say that Dick was indeed sitting outside the classroom door waiting for the class to let out and that he had already let the air out of Dick's tires. Once Mac knew the coast was clear, she exited the vehicle she was borrowing and headed up to the penthouse suite of The Grand.

She knocked on the door and waited. When Logan opened the door, his eyes widened.

"Don't you have class right now?"

Mac walked into the suite. "Skipped it." She continued into Dick's room with an empty bag in hand. "I just want to get my things."

Once inside the room, Mac felt a new wade of anger hit her. She quickly unloaded the contents of the drawer she kept there, leaving the drawer hanging open. When she looked over at Logan, she caught him sending a text.

"Logan, please don't. I can't talk to him, which is why I made sure he wasn't here before I came up."

"I just let him know you're here. He's worried." Logan looked back up at her. "What happened?"

Mac started towards the bathroom and grabbed her shower items. "You mean he didn't figure it out." She scoffed. "I shouldn't be surprised, he only puts his brain to use when he cares about something." She wiped her nose that was starting to run. "I saw the Sex Quest board. You should be proud of your buddy for scoring someone who broke a house record. Double points, all because I dated his psycho brother. Next time you see him, give him a pat on the back for his 500 score."

She went back to the dresser remembering that she had a pair of earrings laying on it. But when she got there, she noticed the framed picture Dick had of the two of them. The one he told her was his favorite. In one quick movement she picked it up and threw at the wall by the door making Logan flinch.

"Sorry I wasn't aiming for you. Just got mad when I saw the picture." Mac pulled the necklace from around her neck and dropped it on top of the broken frame as she exited the room.

"Mac wait." Logan jogged to block her from leaving. "Are you sure he claimed you and that it wasn't just one of his brothers being an ass?"

Mac felt tears build in her eyes. "There was a picture, like the one in the frame. Only Dick and I have copies, and I know I didn't give it to them." She felt the warm tears slide down her cheeks. "I'm so stupid. I really liked him and he used me. How could he do that to me? I really believed him when he told me he cared about me."

Logan pulled her into a hug. "He does."

"Yeah, well that's too bad because this is something I'm never getting past." Mac pushed past him and out the penthouse door.

Logan's phone had been vibrating with calls from Dick the whole time after he sent the text. But now Logan needed to think about whether or not his best friend could have done something that cruel to Mac.

Dick came flying through the door 30 minutes later. "Where is she? Is Mac still here?"

Logan looked up at him from where he sat on the couch. "No. She's gone."

"Shit. Someone let all the air out of my tires. I had to get Chip to bring me here or else I would have been here sooner."

"She was only here a few minutes. Mac got all her things out of your room and then left."

On that note, Dick bolted to see the evidence that Mac had removed her belongings. He then noticed the broken frame along with the necklace he gave her. Sliding down the doorframe, he picked up the necklace from the floor next to him.

"Please tell me what I did and how to fix this?"

Logan stood up and walked over to him. "Tell you what you did? Why don't you tell me why you used her the way you did?"

Dick looked up from the necklace in his hand. "What? I didn't use her."

"You used her the second you claimed her for Sex Quest. You know you did, or else you wouldn't have lied and said you were exempt." Logan narrowed his eyes at his friend.

"I didn't claim her. I'm not in Sex Quest." Dick stood up and yelled. "I asked out of it for HER!"

Logan's face relaxed and he nodded. "I was hoping you would say that. We need to go to the frat house." He turned and headed to the door. "Let's find out which one of your brothers we're going to kill and then we'll fix your situation with Mac."

Ten minutes later, Dick pounding down the stairs to the Pi Sig basement followed by Logan and Chip. He stood in front of the board and began searching for what was labeled as his score. Then he found it, but it wasn't the nickname he used last year. This time it just said Dick.

Next to his name on the board was the photo of him and Mac. Dick was furious because that was a private moment. Sure they both had photos framed in their rooms, but Dick didn't show it to people. He was even careful to find a picture of her in the dress over her bikini to show Chip and Kyle.

He ripped it off the board before grabbing Chip by the shirt and pushing the photo in his face. "Where did you get this?"

"I didn't. Someone else put it on the board. I thought you changed your mind and put it up after you figured out her points were crazy high. I mean only you could get that high with her, she's just a 210 for the rest of us since she dated your brother and then the traumatic event that shouldn't work in your favor."

Dick let go of Chip and folded the photo to put in his pocket. He then grabbed a few bottles of open beer that were sitting on a table and threw them at the board. As each crashed and broke apart the liquid rinsed off the board. Once he was satisfied that his name and the score from Mac was removed along with most everyone else Dick turned and stormed out of the basement.

* * *

Halloween

It had been almost two weeks since Mac found out about Dick claiming points for her. She had formed a system that allowed her to avoid Dick. Three of her instructors allowed her to transfer into different sections of their courses and the other two she had one or more guys block Dick from getting near her. Weevil had other guys on the maintenance crew keep an eye on Dick and with enough people watching she was able to get in and out of classes without seeing him.

Mac had also moved a lot of her things out of the dorm room. She was staying in Leo's guest bedroom for the time being. He wouldn't accept payment for letting her crash with him, but she did learn that he had a fondness for home cooked meals and tried to make him dinner a few nights a week. While she wouldn't cook meat, Leo was a huge fan of her Eggplant Parmesan. They had a sibling type bond forming and the previous weekend Mac had Parker over, which led to a lot of questions from Leo. She was starting to wonder if playing matchmaker would be a good idea.

Now she was dealing with the fact that Parker had begged her to go out for Halloween. Mac figured that since it was a holiday that allowed for costumes and that it was a Thursday night, she would venture out in to society again. When she arrived at her dorm room after her last class, Parker was already dressed as a sexy robber in a stripped long sleeve shirt and black shorts along with high-heeled boots.

"So what costume did you get me since you said you got us matching ones?"

Parker pulled out a matching shirt along with skintight black pants, matching boots, a eye mask and black beanie. "I figured you could cover up a little more with this." She pulled a second beanie over her hair.

Mac shook her head and got dressed in the outfit. "Surprisingly not as bad as I expected. A little tight but at least all my goodies are covered." She turned from the mirror she was checking herself out in. "So where are we going? You're going to have to drive because Weevil picked me up this morning."

"There is a big costume party at a club. I thought we could try that."

"That works for me." Mac braided her hair to the side.

Parker walked to her dresser and picked up a tube of foundation. "Dick came by looking for you everyday this week. I never told him where you were and slammed the door in his face a few times."

Mac nodded her understanding. "So what do you think of Leo?"

Parker turned from where she was putting on make-up. "He's cute. Why? Did he say something?"

Mac smiled at her friend. "He may have asked about you."

They were walking towards the club from the public parking a block away when someone started calling Parker's name. When they turned towards the voice, Logan was jogging towards them dressed as Johnny Depp's version of Hunter S. Thompson.

"Hey Parker. You look good. Have you seen Mac lately?" Logan looked over at the girl next to Parker. He then did a double take. "Is that you Mac?"

She pulled off the beanie and mask. "Hey Logan."

"How've you been? I've called you several times, but it seems like you're ignoring me too now." Logan looked a little hurt.

"Don't take offence. I'm avoiding everyone." Mac fidgeted with the items in her hands.

He walked up to her and pulled her into a hug. "Where've you been staying?"

She pulled back and looked up at him. "With a friend."

"What friend? I checked with Wallace and Piz, but they said they hadn't seen you."

Mac sighed. "Someone off campus."

"Mac?"

She closed her eyes and bit her lip at the sound of her name from a familiar voice behind her. Slowly, Mac turned around to see Dick for the first time since the frat party. He wasn't dressed up in a costume, but wore jeans and a t-shirt.

"Dick."

"I've been trying to find you. We need to talk."

Mac shook her head. "In case you haven't guessed, I don't want to talk."

"Can I just explain please?"

"I don't want to hear whatever you have to say." Mac turned back towards where they were heading, but Dick jumped in front of her.

"Look I would rather do this in private, but since this is the first I've seen of you in weeks, I'll just take what I can get." Dick took a deep breath. "Mac, I didn't claim points on you. I don't know who put that on the board, but it wasn't me. I love you. Please we can fix this."

"Bullshit." Mac narrowed her eyes. "You think saying you love me is going to make everything okay. I saw the picture, Dick! Are you saying it just appeared out of thin air? Because according to common sense, it came from either you or me. Since I know I didn't put it on the board…well, I'm sure you can do that math."

At that moment a sheriff deputy walked up to the argument. "Okay people. It's time to move along. I don't want any arguing on the street."

Mac turned to see Leo approaching from her left. She walked away from the group and up to him with her arms folded in front of her.

"Wow Mac. Didn't recognize you."

"Can you take me home?"

Leo rubbed the tops of her arms. "Sure. My shift ended fifteen minutes ago anyway. Are you okay?" Mac shook her head. "Okay, let's go. Maybe we can watch a few scary movies and eat popcorn." He looked back at the group where he noticed Dick before settling his eyes on Parker. "Hey Parker. Do you need a lift or want to join us?"

Parker smiled at him. "Sure. I'll just meet you at your place."

"Okay Mac, let's go." He turned and started to escort her to his cruiser. "I didn't know you were dressing as a robber tonight. Should I be worried about you staying at my house? However, with my uniform on I should probably just walk around with you and Parker all night. People will think it's a group costume."

Logan and Dick watched them walk away.

"Bye Logan." Parker nodded at him. "Dick. I guess you don't have to worry about Mac. She's under police protection." She turned and headed back towards her car.

Dick followed. "Are you telling me, she's staying with him?"

Parker called over her shoulder. "Good for you. You figured that out all by yourself."

* * *

Mid November

Mac had successfully avoided Dick after running into him on Halloween. Parker said he looked incredibly jealous when he learned whom she was staying with and Mac felt guilty. He claimed that he hadn't been the one to put the photo on the board plus told her that he loved her, and everything in her wanted to believe him, but allowing herself to trust was just too hard. Being hurt by one Casablancas shame on him, but to be hurt twice shame on her.

Dick's frat brothers weren't helping either. Now that it was common knowledge that they had broken up, several have come on to her. Apparently, if they have sex with her then she won't be worth as many points and will knock Dick's score down. They were all a little surprised to find out that she wasn't interested in helping them knock his score down.

Mac walked out of the IT Helpdesk office late one night. She was the last to leave and had asked Weevil to meet her to walk to her car, but he wasn't anywhere to be seen. After waiting five minutes she figured that it was just better to head to her car then wait any longer.

She began walking towards the dorms as she heard footsteps behind her. Thinking it was Weevil, Mac turned around. She was surprised to see Kyle from Dick's fraternity coming up behind her.

"Hey Mac. How's it been?"

Mac nodded. "Well thanks. How are you?"

"Good." He stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I'm sorry to hear about you and Dick."

"Thanks."

"Break ups really suck. I went through a bad one last year. Man that girl did a number on me."

Mac nodded. "Yes they do."

"Well, you know what the best cure is?" He leaned towards her and bumped her shoulder.

"No. What?" Mac wasn't really in the mood to chitchat with Kyle and she was pretty sure that he was behaving like some of the others. He wanted to get in her pants so he could lower Dick's score.

"Rebound sex." He grinned down at her.

"Interesting." She rolled her eyes. "However, that doesn't interest me, so oh well." She snapped her fingers.

"Well it interests me."

He pushed her behind some bushes and slammed Mac against the brick wall. Mac froze at first because she didn't realize what was happening. It took a few moments for her brain to comprehend what Kyle intended to do. She opened her mouth to scream, but his large hand covered it.

"Come on Mac, you know you want me." Kyle used his other hand to fondle Mac's breast.

She tried to push him away but he was a lot stronger and bigger than her and didn't budge. He pressed his hips against her pinning her in everyway to the wall. As she fought with her hands, his free hand was unbuttoning her jeans and pulling the zipper down.

Mac cried out against his hand and tried to find a way to bit it, but it wasn't working. She felt his fingers push past her panties and slide into her. Mac pulled her hand up and scratched his face as hard as she could, making sure to draw blood.

Kyle removed his hand from her mouth and Mac screamed at the top of her lungs. He quickly slammed her around and pressed her front into the wall while he wrapped one hand around her throat forcing her to stop screaming and gasp for air. She could feel the grading of the brick against her cheek.

"Shut the hell up, you bitch."

Mac felt his other hand pushing her jeans down, and then suddenly he was pulled off her. She crumbled to the ground in tears as she heard the sounds of a fight. While she worked to regain her breath and control of her sobbing, Mac felt a hand on her shoulder. She jumped back with a scream.

"It's okay. It's me. He's gone. He's gone."

Mac could see Weevil through her tears. "He…he…"

"I know." Weevil pulled her to him and held her against his chest. "I got you. I got you."

Mac realized her pants where pushed down to her thighs and quickly began to right her clothes. Weevil helped her stand up and turned around as Mac pulled her pants up.

"I'm so sorry I was late. We need to take you to a hospital and call Deputy Leo."

Mac shook her head. "I can't. Please."

"Then call Veronica."

Mac nodded. "Okay."


	9. Chapter 9

**I wrote this chapter last night and was going to sit on it, but I really wanted to put it up. There is a touch of LoVe in this. I'm on a break between terms, so I have down time right now and my hubby is busy so he isn't interrupting me writing.**

 **Please let me know what you think by submitting a review at the bottom.**

Chapter 9

The Next Day

Mac woke up before Leo at 5 AM and packed her car with luggage to get her through the next ten days. She didn't have Friday classes and next week there were no classes for the Thanksgiving holiday, so she decided to get a head start and drive the six hours to Veronica at Stanford.

When she called Veronica the night before, she couldn't explain what happened and had to give the phone to Weevil. When Mac calmed down the three of them debated whether Mac should go to the sheriff department and reporting what happened. Sure she had a witness, but Mac wasn't sure new Sheriff Vinnie Van Lowe would take her serious. Plus considering whom the witness is Veronica was convinced he would just laugh and accept a pay off from Kyle's family because it was well known that Pi Sig's came from wealthy families.

Mac had given Veronica her attacker's name and she did a quick background check the previous night on Kyle Markin. It turned out his mother's name was Anna Sorokin and Gory was his cousin, which made Veronica change the plan of attack. Instead of going to the police, Mac was going up to visit Veronica and they were going to contact Jake Kane for a new deal.

When Mac arrived at Veronica's apartment, she was overcome with emotions from the past 12 plus hours and found herself sitting on the couch and crying on her best friend's shoulder.

"Why? Why did he do this to me?" She felt Veronica's hands moving the hair out of her face. "Do you think he put me on the Sex Quest board? I'm such a bitch. I should have believe Dick and not just assumed the worst."

"That's something you and I have in common. We've been burnt pretty badly and now all men suffer the consequences. I know it sucks really bad right now, but over time it will suck a little less."

"I can't go back there." Mac shook her head and let out a shaky breath.

"I'm here for whatever you need." Veronica rubbed a hand on Mac's back.

"I need Kyle behind bars." Mac didn't want to let Kyle get away with it, but how could she get him put away if the sheriff was an imbecile.

"Well, I've been thinking about that. Maybe we could make that part of the deal with Kane. He knows someone helped me break into his hard drive. Maybe we can use that as leverage. He's protecting Logan and expedited my transfer here in exchange for my silence. Maybe he could get you transferred here and put Kyle in jail for yours."

Mac nodded. "Can we call him?"

After some negotiations, Mac was able to come to an arrangement. However, she would have to return to Neptune and press formal charges against Kyle, but Jake would make sure his family forced him to take the first plea deal offered and he will make sure the DA offers a full three year sentence plus he will be a registered sex offender for the rest of his life. However, Jake wanted something in return from Mac. After she finishes college, Jake wants her to come work for him. He told them that he would rather have a hacker of her caliber working for him then against him.

Mac would move in with Veronica in a couple of weeks since she was already in a small two bedroom apartment and was looking for a roommate anyway. So there was no thought needed for Mac's living arrangements.

"Veronica, do you mind if I use your shower? I just need to." Mac sighed.

"I understand." Veronica got up and went to pull out a towel for Mac out of the closet. "Here you go. Take as long as you need."

Mac turned the water on as hot as she could stand and stood under the spray letting it wash the dirty feeling off her skin. This was the third shower she had taken since what happened the previous night. After the water began to run cold, Mac turned it off and got out while wrapping a towel around herself. She stood in front of the mirror and looked at her reflection.

Mac didn't see herself in the mirror, she saw someone she didn't even recognize staring back at her. The long, light brown hair with blonde highlights and the tan skin from spending time on the beach surfing made her feel like she was looking at the 09'er she could have been instead of the person she was. When she went to pull clothes out of her bag, she also noticed that they weren't the clothes she used to wear. They were more feminine and showed a definite influence from Parker.

She pulled on a gray long sleeve shirt with a pink t-shirt over it and then a pair of jeans before walking out of the bathroom and walking into the living room.

"If I have to go back there, then I'm going to need some armor."

Veronica looked at her from the couch. "Okay." She stood up and picked up her purse from the chair. "Let's go prepare for war."

Mac was sitting in a chair at a hair salon with foils throughout her hair when her phone began to ring. She pulled it out of her bag and answered it when she saw Logan's name.

"Hey."

 _Hey. I was curious if you wanted to grab coffee and catch up?_

"I can't right now." She was still trying to stay friends with Logan, but hadn't done more then speak in passing since Halloween.

 _What could you possibly be doing that is more important than hanging out with one of your nearest and dearest who you've neglected lately?_

That was the moment that Veronica walked up from where she had just finished getting a trim. "Hey Mac. I'm done. Nothing crazy, but what do you think. Am I a Marilyn?" She struck a Marilyn Monroe pose with her lips pouted out.

 _Is that Veronica? Where are you?_

"Um…Logan. I'm…" Mac looked at Veronica and pulled the phone from her mouth. "He heard you."

"Shit."

Mac directed her attention back to the phone.

 _Tell me where you are and I'll meet you._

"We aren't in Neptune. I'm visiting Veronica right now. I needed to get out of town." Mac looked at Veronica who resembled a deer in headlights. "I'll be back after the holidays."

 _Can I speak with her?_

Mac held her phone out to Veronica, but she just shook her head at it. "It's not a good time. I'll call you." She hung up the phone and placed it back in her bag. "You can't give him the silent treatment forever."

"I can't talk to him. If I do, then I'll just want to go running back to Neptune and I can't do that."

* * *

Early December

Mac returned from Veronica's with a new look and ready to kick ass. Thanks to Jake Kane's pull at Hearst, she was allowed to take two of her finals early that Monday and the rest could be submitted by email, which meant she was done with classes.

She fixed her new short hair in the mirror. It was straight, just shy of chin length with a razor cut edge and a few peek-a-boo dark red highlights mixed into a dark brown color. This is a girl she recognized in the mirror. The cut was more mature and edgy, but this was who she was meant to be. She never wore heavy make-up and kept it simple like she did in high school but thickened the eyeliner.

Mac put on a pair of torn jeans along with a vintage t-shirt and a black blazer with the sleeves rolled up showing a leather cuff on her left wrist. She tied her converse sneakers and smiled at herself. She was ready to face whatever her last day in Neptune had in store for her.

While she was in her tests, Weevil and Leo packed up the last of her things from the dorm room and loaded it into her car along with all the other bags from Leo's house. After the exams were finished, Mac was able to make her 11 AM appointment at the Sheriff's Office. Weevil came with her to give a statement to what he saw that night as a witness.

When Mac left the Sheriff's Office later that afternoon, Sheriff Van Lowe told her Mr. Kane had spoken to him about taking everything she said very seriously. She was informed that Kyle Markin would be picked up quickly and he was about to send Leo and Deputy Sacks as soon as the warrant was issued. This gave Mac enough time to go over to The Grand and explain everything to Dick before he learned about it from his frat brothers.

She stood in front of the door nervously fidgeting with her clothes. This was highly emotional for her and she had already been through the ringer that day. While the sheriff believed her story, it was still difficult to explain. There was so much she needed to say to Dick, but she wasn't sure if she'd be able to.

After taking several deep breaths, Mac knocked on the door and listened as someone came to open it.

Logan's mouth dropped open when he saw her standing in front of him. "Wow. You're hair looks different. I like it, it looks good."

Mac smiled. "I'm glad you're here. I brought you something." She reached in her bag and pulled out an envelope. "It's progress." Mac offered it to Logan who silently took it from her. "Can I come in?"

Logan nodded as he stared at the letter in his hands and moved to let her into the suite. Mac knew he wanted to rip into it, but was also scared to.

Mac came around the wall by the door and saw Dick sitting on the couch. "Hey."

"Wow, you're talking to me. What? Your new boyfriend not doing it for you?"

She visibly flinched because it felt like a stab in the gut to hear Dick say that. "I came to talk to you. I need to tell you something."

Dick stood up. "Let me see if I quote this correctly. I don't want to hear what you have to say. Did I get that right?"

"Please Dick." She took a deep breath to push back the tears she felt building.

He walked past her and out the front door making sure to slam it behind him.

Mac slowly sank onto the couch and felt Logan sit down next to her.

"I was never with Leo. He was just letting me stay in his guest room." She looked at her hands. "I even set him up with Parker. They've been dating for a few weeks now."

"Mac. I'm sorry."

She shook her head. "It doesn't matter. I'm leaving Neptune anyways."

"What? Why?"

Mac felt tears spring to her eyes. Telling Logan was just as emotional as when she told Veronica, but at least this time she was pretty well cried out. "The night before I left to visit Veronica, I was attacked leaving work." She sniffled and wiped her nose. "The guy…he uh…" Getting the words out was nearly impossible and tears were leaving trails down her cheeks. "Thank god Weevil showed up and stopped him before he..." She let out a long breath. "The guy did enough."

"Oh god." Logan pulled Mac to him and allowed her to cry into his chest. "Did you press charges?"

She pulled away and nodded while wiping at her face. "They're picking him up today. I didn't want Dick to learn about it from his fraternity that's why I'm here." Mac let out a loud sigh. "It was one of them. A guy named Kyle." She looked over at Logan and his jaw was clenched and his hands were balled in a fist.

"I know the guy." He unclasped and re-clenched his fists. "I'll kill him."

She placed a hand over his. "No need to bust any sheriff cruisers windshields. Weevil has a buddy in holding waiting on the guy. Plus, I have it on good authority that he will be taking the first plea deal offered for sexual assault and battery, which will also be a full sentence of three years. That way I don't have to go through a trial." Mac looked at the clock by the television. "I need to go. It's a long drive and I need to get on the road."

"You're leaving now?"

"Yeah." Mac bit her lip.

"What about finals?"

"I took two this morning and rest are essays or projects my professors are letting me turn in over email." She sniffled again. "Can you tell Dick something else for me?" Logan nodded. "Tell him that I fell in love with him too and I'm sorry I didn't trust him. I really wish I could take back these past weeks. There are so many things I need to tell him, but I can't just leave everything for you to relay. Maybe I'll get up the nerve someday." She gave him a tight smile as she wiped the remaining tears from her face. "Thanks for being my friend Logan." Mac patted him on the knee.

"Hey now. That sounds like a permanent good-bye."

"It kind of is, at least for a few years. I just need to separate myself from Neptune as much as possible right now." Mac kissed Logan on the cheek and stood up from the couch. "She still loves you. That much I'm sure. Do me a favor and make something of yourself. Give Veronica someone to come back for because it may take a while, but I'm sure she will."

* * *

Same Day

Dick couldn't stand to see Mac. She was now with that sheriff deputy and it just angered him to know she could replace him so easily, like he meant nothing to her. He walked into the Pi Sig house hoping to drink himself into a stupor and forget everything related to Mac.

He walked into the kitchen and downed one beer before grabbing another and making his way out into the living room where a few brothers were playing a video game. There was a knock at the door and since he was the only one standing, Dick walked over to open it.

Shock was the first emotion he felt when the deputy Mac was now with stood in front of him along with another guy Dick had seen at the station before. "Hello deputies. What can I do for you?" It took all the restraint Dick had not to just throw the beer in the guy's face.

"Mr. Casablancas. I'm here to see Kyle Markin."

Dick opened the door and motioned for the men in uniform to enter. "Kyle! You have visitors."

Kyle walked out of the living room and froze when he saw the deputies. "I hope they aren't strippers, because I don't want to see that in a G-string."

Leo walked towards him and turned him before pressing him against the wall to handcuff. "Kyle Markin. You are under arrest. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Do you understand the rights I have just read to you?"

"What am I being arrested for?" Kyle asked over his shoulder.

"Sexual assault and battery." Leo patted him down.

Dick watched in shock, as Kyle was lead away by the deputies. Just what the frat needed another rape charge and this would be especially bad if it were true. He followed them out onto the lawn and noticed Weevil standing there with a satisfied smirk on his face.

"What are you doing here Weevil?"

Weevil looked over at him. "Just watching a rich boy take his death march." He nodded at Dick and then walked towards his bike at the curb.

Dick pulled out his phone that was vibrating in his pocket. He noticed Logan's name on the screen and flipped it open to answer.

"Dude, you won't believe what happened. Kyle was just arrested and Weevil was here watching."

Logan let out a gasp. _Dick you need to get back here._

"Is _she_ still there?"

 _No. Just get back here now._

"Fine." He was annoyed that his fun at the house was interrupted and now being cut short.

Fifteen minutes later Dick was sitting on the couch with a visibly upset Logan. He hadn't seen Logan this angry since Mercer and Mo attacked Veronica and was getting worried.

"So what did I have to come back here for?"

Logan was clenching fists with his hands. "Do you know why Kyle was arrested?"

"Sexual assault."

"And sexual battery."

"How do you know that?" Dick was confused because the arrest had just happened and the rumor mill isn't that good.

"Because I was told he was being arrested before it happened." Logan took a big breath and let it out. "Because it was Mac."

It took a few seconds for what Logan said to sink in. Dick couldn't wrap his brain around it. "No."

Logan nodded. "That's why she was here. She wanted to tell you before it happened."

"Oh god. He raped her?" He may have been mad at Mac, but he wanted to kill Kyle for hurting her.

"Not completely. Weevil showed up and stopped him right before he..." Logan let the unsaid words linger in the air.

"That's why he was there today." Dick closed his eyes and rubbed his hands over his face.

"There's more." Logan waited for Dick to look at him. "She was never with Leo. He's actually dating Parker."

Dick leaned back on the couch and stared up at the ceiling and punched his fist into the cushion next to him. He couldn't believe he instantly assumed the worst-case scenario. Sure Madison jumped straight into another guy's bed when they broke up, but Mac wasn't Madison. Early he had wanted to hurt her and now Dick knew she was going through hell, he wanted to punch himself for being an asshole.

"This next part is going to hurt, so I need to you to take a minute and calm down." Logan watched as Dick took several deep breaths and lifted his head to look at him. "She wanted me to tell you that she fell in love with you too and she's sorry for not trusting you."

Dick stood up and began pacing. "But that's good news. Shit, I've got to make it up to Mac. I need to see her and apologize for being an ass. She needs someone to lean on right now. I have to find her."

"She's gone."

Dick looked at Logan but continued pacing the floor. "I know. Maybe she's at that deputy's house or her parents." He moved towards the door.

"No Dick. She's gone, like Veronica gone. She left Neptune and isn't coming back."


	10. Chapter 10

**This is actually the idea were this story started and it just grew out of this. If you've been waiting for more Veronica, you'll get it now. I'm unsure how you will react to this turn. Leave me a review and let me know.**

Chapter 10

Early June 2010 (2.5 Years Later)

Veronica stood on the beach with her camera in hands. Photographing a blonde haired, blue eyed little boy running around the playground who answered to the name of Jack. It's funny how much you can love someone so small. Since the first time she held him in her arms, actually even before then he had become her world.

She turned towards the shore and saw two figures in her lense and zoomed back to see their faces. Veronica pulled the camera from her face. She wasn't exactly surprised to see him, but this wasn't how she wanted there first meeting in three years to go.

"Veronica." Logan came to stand in front of her in his board shorts and surf shirt. Then propped his board up in the sand.

"Hi Logan." She moved her eyes to Dick who was standing next to him. "Hey Dick."

"Ronnie. Long time." Dick stood his board up as well.

"What are you doing here?" Logan eyed her up and down.

Veronica put her camera away in the bag on her shoulder and sneaked a glance at Jack who was now playing with another little boy that he had just made friends with when they got there an hour ago.

"I'm here visiting. Just got into town last night." Veronica set her bag on the bench behind her next to a large blue and white striped tote. "I was planning to call you."

Logan nodded. "Well it looks like fate had other plans."

"It always does."

A loud scream rocketed Veronica to attention. Her head wiped to the right and saw Jack on the ground with another woman named Holly, who was the mother of the other child, running towards him. Veronica bolted from her spot and reached Jack.

"He fell running. I don't think he's hurt." Holly told her as she picked up the boy Jack was playing with.

Veronica picked Jack up in her arms. "You're okay Jack. You're okay." She turned to Holly. "Thanks. He's nap was cut short today, so he's just grumpy."

"I'll call you about setting up a play date this week with Sean."

"That would be great." Veronica turned and headed back towards the bench, but froze when she noticed Logan and Dick watching her. She had forgotten for a moment that they were standing there. Taking a deep breath, Veronica made her way to the bench and sat down still holding Jack against her as his crying calmed down.

Veronica pulled a wet wipe from the tote and removed the tears from Jack's face before cleaned the sand from his hands. "Hey little man. How about some apple juice?" She could feel the two sets of eyes staring holes in her.

Jack nodded against her and pulled back rubbing his eye with his fist.

Veronica avoided looking up as she pulled a juice box out of a small cooler in her tote. After placing the straw in the box she handed it to Jack and then braved looking up at the two guys staring dumbfounded at her.

"This is Jackson, although he likes Jack more." Veronica kissed his forehead and she ran a hand over his hair.

Logan let out a loud breath. "How old is he?"

Veronica looked down at Jack. "Sweetie, can you tell my friends how old you are?"

Jack turned around in her lap and looked up at the two men noticing them for the first time then his eyes widened. "Surfers."

"Yes, they surf." Veronica gave a small laugh. "Can you tell them how old you are?"

Jack smiled up at Logan and Dick, and then held up two fingers. "This many."

"How many is that?" Veronica asked him.

"Two." Jack's looked to his left and then his smile got larger. "Mommy's here." He jumped off Veronica's lap and started running.

"Jack!" Veronica stood up but saw Mac walking towards them in old torn jeans rolled up and a white tank top with her arms outstretched to her son.

She looked up to Logan who was biting his lip. He motioned his head towards Dick and raised his eyebrows in question, so Veronica offered him a small nod. She turned her eyes on Dick would was staring at Mac in shock.

Mac picked up her son and twirled him around before placing him back on the sand. "Did you have a good time with Aunt V?" She held his hand and started walking towards where Jack had run from. When she looked up she stopped in her tracks when she was met by the face that she hadn't gotten out of her mind since she left Neptune.

Jack was pulling at her hand. "Mommy. They surf."

"Yes, I know sweetie." Mac took a deep breath and continued walking to the group without losing eye contact with Dick. "Hi Dick." She shifted her eyes and noticed Logan. "Hey."

Logan waved. "Hey."

Veronica jumped in. "Did everything get moved in?"

She looked over at Veronica. "Yeah. Got a few groceries and just got to unpack now. Thanks for entertaining Jack today." When Mac shifted her eyes back over she noticed that Dick looked panicked. "Hey V, can you go put Jack in the car seat for me?" She handed her car keys over to Veronica who picked up her bags and took Jack's hand.

Logan came up to Mac. "It's good to see you. We should catch up soon now that you're back." He kissed her on the cheek. "I'm going to go talk to Veronica." Then grabbed his board and walked away.

Mac bit her lips and composed herself as she turned to face Dick. "How've you been?"

Dick narrowed his eyes and pointed towards where Veronica had gone with Jack. "He's mine?" It wasn't exactly a question, but more of a statement.

Mac could tell he was angry, but found the strength to nod as her gaze fell to the ground.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because you didn't want to hear what I had to say." She instantly regretted saying that and flinched. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that." Mac sat down on the bench.

Dick rubbed his hand over his face before sitting down next to Mac. "Why didn't you call, email, hell sent a carrier pigeon?"

Mac looked over at Dick. He didn't look as angry anymore, which made Mac feel a small amount better. "I was going to that time I came to the penthouse. After that I was scared of how you would react. I started to call you a few times, but chickened out. I did send you a few emails, but hacked your account and deleted them before you saw them."

"Were you ever going to tell me?"

She nodded. "I came to town six weeks ago when I was house shopping and found out where you live. I went by your house, but you weren't there. I was planning on trying again tomorrow morning while Jack is with my parents."

"So you're back?"

"Just got here last night. I have a position with Kane Industries and moved into my new house today."

He rubbed a hand over his head. "Okay. I need to think. Can we talk tomorrow?"

"Sure. How about you come by at ten tomorrow? I'll text you the address."

Dick laughed. "So you still have my number. Too bad you didn't use it before."

Mac stood up. "I deserve that. I'll see you tomorrow." She began towards the parking lot.

"Mac." She turned around. "I'm sorry."

Mac nodded. "I'm sorry too."

She made it back to the car to find Logan letting Jack stand on his board. Jack was thrilled to pretend to surf. Ever since he first saw the _Surf's Up_ cartoon, he has been obsessed.

"Mommy. I surf!" Jack giggled.

"I see that. Maybe we can come back and watch Logan surf sometime? We need to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house for dinner." She picked up Jack. "Can you say goodbye to Aunt V and Logan?"

"Bye." Jack waved.

Veronica came up and kissed Jack on the cheek. "I'll see you guys after dinner. I'll work on Jack's room."

Mac smiled at her best friend. "You're wonderful. What am I going to do without you all the time?" Veronica had accepted a job in LA that started in a few weeks and planned to visit a lot, but life will be very different without her help everyday.

Once Mac and Jack were pulling out of the space, Veronica found herself alone with Logan. "Sorry about earlier. I know what you were thinking. If Dick hadn't been there I would have just explained from the beginning, but I was overwhelmed."

"I understand why you didn't just explain." Logan picked up his board and carried it towards Dick's truck. "Would you be interested in having dinner tonight?"

She followed him through the parking lot. "I need to set up Jack's room. I have a surprise planned and want it up before they get back." Veronica wanted to spend more time with Logan. "Would you be interested in helping me? We could order pizza."

A smile grew on Logan's face as he put the board in the back of the truck. "I would like that."

"Great." She gave him Mac's new address and told him to head over as soon as he could.

Dick approached the two of them. "Hey guys."

"You okay Dick?" Logan looked at him with concern.

"I don't know how I am. I just found out I have a two-year old son."

She put her hands in the back pockets of her shorts. "If you decided to be part of his life, then you can't walk away later. Jack is a lifetime commitment."

"I don't know how to be a dad." Dick leaned against his truck.

"You'll learn. He's an amazing kid."

"Mac may not even want me to be in his life. If she had then she would have told me about him sooner."

"Mac has wanted to tell you a million times. I almost told you when…when he was born. I know she wants you in his life." Veronica turned to Logan. "I'm going to go. I'll see you later."

Logan watched Veronica walk away looking forward to seeing her as soon as he can get home and change, but then he remembered that Dick may need to talk. "Dick, let's go home."

After Mac left during their sophomore year, the two guys decided they needed to grow up some and bought a house together. It was on the beach, but they still enjoyed going to public beaches and surfing those areas.

When they entered their beach house, Dick went straight to the refrigerator and pulled out a beer. Logan had spent the past few years working on improving himself and it rubbed off on Dick. They both graduated college with their bachelor degrees the previous month Logan as an English major and Dick with business.

Before graduation Logan ran into an old friend of his mom's, who was working on a screenplay. Logan gave a few useful suggestions that were a big hit with the studio, which led to a freelance consulting job with several screenwriters at the studio over the past two months.

Dick had taken some of his inheritance and purchased two rundown beachside motels that he was currently renovating and hoping to open as new eco-friendly luxury condos just outside the 09'er zip code.

"Are you okay man? Do you want to talk about it?"

Dick pulled the beer from his lips. "I'm fine. You should get changed and go meet Ronnie."

"I don't mind staying if you need to talk."

He laughed without smiling. "You've read that letter a billion times. You've waited years for this. Go."

"Call me if you need me to come home."

Logan arrived at Mac's new house less than an hour after leaving Veronica at the beach. The letter from Veronica was in his pocket and Logan couldn't stop thinking about what Veronica had written all those years ago. He knocked on the door and waited for it to open.

When Veronica heard the knock on the door, she was suddenly nervous. It had been over three years since she last saw Logan, but he had been on her mind for all that time. Sure she tried to date twice while she was at Stanford, but they were both like Piz and Veronica became bored with them quickly.

She opened the door and smiled up at him. "Hi."

"Hey."

She motioned for Logan to come in. "Did you want to go ahead and order the pizza or wait?"

Logan entered the home. "Why don't you show me what we are working on first?"

"Oh you'll love this." She closed the door and began towards the bedrooms. "Jack is a lot like Dick believe it or not. He watched a cartoon a while back about surfing and has been obsessed since." She walked into the room that she was working on. "I got this headboard made for him, but haven't shown it to Mac yet. I just brought it in from my car." It was a basic white headboard with a short red surfboard attached horizontally. The board was decorated with different shades of red stripes, white turtles, and said Jack written in the middle in white.

"That's awesome."

"Thanks. I was planning to do a whole surf themed room. I already brought the boxes in. Mac hasn't seen any of it yet except the blue walls that I got her brother to paint a few days ago." Veronica had a twinkle in her eyes. She was so excited to give this surprise to Jack.

"You really love him don't you?"

Veronica sighed and sat down on the floor and began attaching the bed railings. "I was the first person to hold him after the doctors and nurses. He's had me wrapped around his little finger ever since. I'm really going to miss him."

Logan sat down with her to help. "You said you were just visiting. Where have you been?"

Veronica bit her lip. "We were at Stanford, but now Mac will be here and I'll be LA in a couple of weeks. So not too far away, but far enough I won't see Jack everyday anymore."

"What's in LA?" Logan was excited that she would so close by.

"I accepted a job with the California Bureau of Investigation. Not exactly as big as the FBI, but it'll keep me in California instead of moving around all over the country."

"I go up to LA for work a couple of days a week." They finished putting the bed frame together and Logan stood before offering his hand to help Veronica up.

She took his hand and came to stand in front of him. "We'll have to make it a point to see each other when you're in town."

Logan held onto her hand. "Did you mean what you put in the letter?"

She laughed to the side. "I was wondering when you were going to bring that up." Veronica stared at their joined hands. "I don't remember what I said word for word, but…"

Logan let go of her hand and pulled the letter from his pocket. "Maybe this would refresh your memory. I'll go order the pizza while you read it." He stepped out of the room and into the hallway.

Veronica came to stand in the doorway. "I don't need to read it." Logan stopped and turned to face her. "I meant what I wrote. We both needed to grow up and figure out who we were as individuals. It didn't matter how much we loved one another then because we kept hurting each other."

She unfolded the letter in her hands and looked at the writing. "I understand how you felt now." Her eyes came up to look at him. "I watch Jack run around and he can be fearless sometimes which scares me. What if he gets hurt and I could have stopped it? I care that he's safe. I get it."

Logan took the three steps that were between them and placed his hands on her cheeks before pressing his lips to hers. Veronica gave out a moan and fisted his shirt at his sides.

He pulled back a few inches and watched as Veronica opened her eyes. "I'm sorry for hurting you."

Veronica shook her head. "I know. I've let all that go." When he leaned down to kiss her again, she pulled back. "We have a room to finish first." She smiled and walked back into the room and over to the mattress. "Help me with these."

After a couple of hours of working with a few kisses and touches, they were done with the room.

"We never had dinner. Are you interested in maybe going out and getting something since we're done?" Logan asked.

"They should be back any minute." She jumped when she heard the door open. "We can leave after he sees the room." Veronica went into the hall. "Jack. I've got a surprise for you."

Jack ran to her and jumped into her arms. "Aunt Veeeee."

Mac walked up behind him. "So let's see this surprise. I'm excited."

Logan came to stand in the bedroom door way. "Hey Mac. Hi Jack."

"Surfer." Jack pointed at Logan, which made them both laugh.

Mac's eyes widened with surprise. "Logan, I didn't expect to see you. Hi." She knelt down to Jack. "He's name is Logan." She turned to Veronica and raised an eyebrow.

"He helped. You got back just in time because we were about to go grab something to eat. But first." Veronica carried Jack into his room and set him on the floor on top of a surfboard rug.

Jack started jumping up and down. "Dude. Cool!"

Logan laughed at the sight. "He says dude?"

Mac was standing next to Logan. "There is a lot of nature over nurture in that boy. Veronica has tried to break him of saying it."

"I've given up. It's a lost cause." Veronica pointed out the headboard to Jack. "Do you know what that says?"

"Jack. My name." He climbed up on his bed, which had a comforter with three surfboards going the length of the bed. When he got to the headboard he pointed at the red surfboard. "Turtles." Then stood up and started jumping.

Mac clapped her hands together. "Ok little man. It's been a busy day. I think it's bath time." Jack jumped off the bed and ran to his mom.

"Thanks for this guys. It's amazing."


	11. Chapter 11

**I'm trying to put chapters up quickly before I get busy and I have to pause. Let me know what you think with a review.**

 **Thanks for reading!**

Chapter 11

The Next Morning

Mac's mother was supposed to have picked Jack up over 20 minutes ago, but she still hadn't arrived. Dick was due there in less than 10 minutes and Mac didn't want to add stress to him by having Jack there.

Currently, Mac had finally found the coffeemaker and got it set up. She was unpacking a box of dishes as she waited for it to brew. Jack was sitting on the floor in the living room pushing cars around and making vroom noises. Mac loved her new home and the open floor plan that allowed her to move around while also watching Jack.

A knock sounded on the front door and Mac wiped her hands on a dishtowel as she walked through the living room. She opened the door expecting her mother, but found a very nervous Dick standing on her porch.

"Morning Dick."

"Morning."

Mac stepped back and motioned for Dick to come in. "My mom hasn't shown up yet to pick up Jack. She should be here any second."

He stepped inside and noticed Mac had a comfortable bungalow style home that was much larger than he expected. "You have a nice house."

"Thanks. It's larger than I planned on getting." She noticed Dick's eyes were looking past her and followed them to where Jack was playing. Mac was about to ask him if he wanted to say hello when another knock sounded on the door. "That must be my mom."

Mac opened the door to find out that it wasn't her mother. "What are you doing here?"

"Your mom was running late and needed to get Ryan to the game to warm up, so she asked if I could pick Jack up on the way."

Mac pinched the top on her nose. "Okay. Come in."

"Dick. I didn't expect to see you here."

Dick turned around and his eyes widened. "Madison."

Mac looked at him. "I'll explain in a minute." She went to where Jack was playing. "Ok Jack. It's time to go to Uncle Ry's baseball game."

"Yay!" Jack picked up two of his cars and stood up before turning around. "Aunt Maddie!" He ran towards Madison and she swooped him in a hug.

"Hey Jack. You ready to go buddy?"

Mac walked up with a large blue and white striped tote. "There are the essentials, snacks, and a change of clothes. Do you want to just take my car instead of moving the car seat?"

"That works for me. I'll bring him back in two hours." Madison put the tote over her shoulder and accepted Mac's car keys. "Good luck."

"Thanks Madison." Mac kissed Jack on the cheek. "Be good. I love you."

"Love you Mommy."

Madison left with Jack and Mac turned around. "So that probably just confused the hell out of you. How about a cup of coffee and I'll explain?"

"Uh…okay." Dick followed her into the kitchen and sat down stunned from what he had just witnesses. "Are there any other big surprises that I'm going to be hit with? I think I'm going to need some warning."

Mac pulled out two mugs from the drying rack and poured the coffee. "Let's just call it the theme for the day and prepare for everything I say to be a surprise. Do you take your coffee the same?"

Dick nodded and then realized Mac wasn't looking. "Yeah."

Mac went to the refrigerator and got out a container of half and half. She then added cream to both the mugs.

Dick noticed. "You're not vegan anymore?"

"When I was pregnant I craved dairy products and the vegan substitutes didn't cut it. I'm still vegetarian." She turned with the mugs and handed one to Dick. Mac motioned for the two of them to sit at the table. "So…Madison and I were switched at birth."

Dick choked on the coffee. "I'm sorry. What?"

Mac took a pull for her mug. "The Sinclairs are my biological parents and the Mackenzie's are Madison's. My parents told me when Jack was born and Madison's told her, but I actually have known since high school when Veronica found out for me. The Sinclairs came up a few times to visit over the years and Madison was with them. Surprisingly she has a heart when it comes to babies. Who knew?"

"So in other words, my high school girlfriend has had a relationship with my son, who I didn't even know about, with my college girlfriend. And both my past girlfriends were switched at birth with each other."

"Yeah."

"Why did they wait and tell you when Jack was born?" Dick was confused and irritated. It seemed that a lot of people knew about his son, but Dick himself.

Mac let out a long breath. "Jack was born early at 36 weeks, which is 4 weeks early. I was under a lot of stress when I left Neptune and it wasn't good for me. I developed preeclampsia at 28 weeks. Jack was fine and even had a healthy weight."

Mac stood up and pulled a photo album out of a box in the living room. She opened it to the front, which contained pictures of the day Jack was born being held by Veronica and Mac's mom. He was born with a head full of blonde hair and Mac smiled at the photos. She sat it down in front of Dick.

"I wasn't okay though because I hemorrhaged during labor. My parents felt the Sinclairs had the right to know in case I didn't make it and called them. Basically, when I woke up, they were there and everyone knew."

Dick placed his hand on top of hers on the table, he felt like an ass for being upset that the Sinclairs knew. "I would have been there."

Mac felt tears come to her eyes. "I regret leaving Neptune and not telling you, but there were so many things going on at the time. Plus, I didn't exactly find out I was pregnant in the best way." She wiped the tears from her eyes.

"What do you mean?" He rubbed his thumb over her hand.

"I found out I was pregnant after I had gone to a doctor in Stanford a couple of days after Kyle attacked me because Veronica insisted since I was feeling sick."

"Oh." Dick closed his eyes and rubbed his free hand over his face. "I'm sorry you had to go through that. If I hadn't…"

"He targeted me before you and I ever dated. Kyle was the one who put the picture of us on the board. He told Leo when he was in holding that he stole it from you. I believe his reason was something like, bitches like Veronica and me need to be reminded our place. They couldn't go after Veronica, so they went after me." Mac shrugged her shoulders.

"Why?" He was staring at her in shock.

"We uncovered some information we shouldn't have freshman year. It's why Veronica left." She stared at Dick.

"What information?"

"I can't tell you. I made a deal to have Kyle put away and to get me out of Neptune, but it was in exchange for my silence." Mac looked away from Dick and at the picture in the album. "We should get back to the important topic." She pulled her hand away and clasped them in her lap. "Do you want to be part of Jack's life?"

Dick pulled his hand away from where it was previously holding her hand and picked up the photo album. "Do you want me to? I mean really want me to be his dad." He wasn't sure if she felt like she was obligated to let him into Jack's life or wanted him there.

Mac's eye shot up to Dick. "Of course. I've always wanted you to be a part of his life. It's my fault you aren't already."

Dick smiled softly. "Then yes, I want to be his dad. Could you tell me more about him? I mean I don't even know if he'll like me."

Mac laughed. "Dick, he is your son and I'm not just talk biologically." She stood up. "Follow me." Mac led him into the hallway that lead to the bedrooms. "The Sinclairs insisted on buying me a house when I told them we were moving back. They were so excited to have Jack here. Veronica really wanted to decorate Jack's bedroom." She stopped and turned to look at Dick. "So Logan was here last night helping Veronica set it up. He went nuts when he saw it after we got back from dinner with the Sinclairs." She pushed open the door.

"Wow."

"He's obsessed with surfing, so you already have one thing in common."

Dick looked around the room in amazement. "Maybe I can teach him when he's big enough."

"Lead with that and you'll be his favorite person ever." Mac knocked her elbow into his. "Plus, he has a habit of saying dude, which annoys Veronica."

"He doesn't?"

"Ask Logan. He couldn't stop laughing about it last night. So two more things in common, saying dude and annoying Veronica."

Dick looked down at her. "I don't know how to be a dad. You'll help me right?" He had a habit of screwing things up, but this is something he really wanted to do right. Jack deserved a better dad then what Dick had.

"Of course. But I'll give you my big secret to parenting success." She looked up at him and smiled. "I'm making it up as I go. The great thing about kids is they love you unconditionally and are easy to forgive. However, I don't think he's forgiven me for taking him to the circus and introducing him to the clown."

"I wouldn't either because clowns are creepy." He looked her like it was the most obvious thing.

"Four things in common now."

They went back into the kitchen and sat down at the table in front of the photo album. Mac was relieved that he wanted to be a father to Jack and knew there was a lot of cover before Jack got back. She told him stories about Jack and some had photos to go with them.

"Do you want to be added to his birth certificate?" Mac was watching his reaction to everything worried that he would change his mind and bolt for the door.

"I'm not on there?"

"His father is listed as unknown. I didn't feel right putting your name if you didn't know. I think we have to have a paternity test to get it changed."

"Okay. Well it's Thursday, I could call my doctor and have it set up for tomorrow." Dick had decided if he was going to do this, then he wanted to be all in. Over the past two years, he had missed Mac everyday and thought of her constantly. He wasn't a saint by any stretch of the imagination and did have his share of bedmates, but none ever turned into a relationship. However, he decided that he needed to focus all his efforts on forming a relationship with Jack.

"He has my last name too. Is that a problem?"

There was a knock at the door before he could answer and it was pushed open to have Jack come flying through the house.

"Moooommmmmmyyyyyy!"

Mac lifted Jack onto her lap and gave him a bunch of kisses on the cheek. "Did you have fun?"

"Unc Ry hit homerun." Jack imitated swinging a baseball bat.

"Wow." Mac looked at Madison who just sat the tote on the couch and Mac's car keys on the coffee table. "Thanks Madison."

"I don't know how you do it and you're mom did most of the work. I'm exhausted and some how I ended up covered in juice. I'm going home and showering then taking a nap." Madison waved to them. "I'll see you later. Bye Dick."

"Bye." Dick's eyes moved back to the little boy in Mac's lap.

Mac sighed. "Jack, sweetie. I want you to meet someone."

Jack turned in Mac's lap so he could see Dick. "Surfer."

Dick laughed. "Yeah little dude. I'm a surfer."

Mac brushed Jack's hair aside. "Jack, this is your dad." He placed his head her chest looking at Dick like he was trying to figure something out. "You know how your friend Ava has both a mommy and daddy?" Jack nodded. "Now you do too."

Jack sat up in Mac's lap. "Okay. I hungry."

Mac and Dick looked at one another and laughed.

* * *

3 Weeks Later

Mac had been working at Kane software for two weeks now. She still couldn't believe that Jake Kane put her in a lead programmer for a security software development team. The other five people in the team were all men who had worked in their jobs anywhere from two to five years. She over heard two of the guys insinuating she had to sleep her way into her job. It wouldn't have been so bad, if she didn't think they were kind of right because she was only in the position because of the information she knew about the Castle secret society.

She noticed it was almost six and she still have a few things to finish up since it was Friday. Mac picked up her cell and called Dick. He had come over everyday since finding out about Jack and she had been impressed by how he was taking being a dad to Jack serious. Plus, after Mac and Veronica took Jack to the beach to watch Dick and Logan surf two days after their meeting, Jack was in awe of his dad.

 _Hey Mackie._

"Hey Dick. Could you do me a favor?"

 _Sure._

"Can you pick up Jack at my parents? I still need to finish a few things up here before the weekend."

 _Gladly. Do you want me to pick up a pizza or something for dinner?_

"You would be my hero if you did that."

 _Consider it done. What time do you think you'll be home?_

"About another 45 minutes."

 _Okay. We'll be there then._

"Thank you."

 _You're welcome._

Mac was searching her desk for a flash drive that contained the most updated version of the coding, but it seemed to have vanished. She noticed one of guys from the team talking to another lead programmer for a different group and approached him.

"Hey Steve. Have you seen the flash drive with the most recent file? Hey Paul." Paul had been the first friendly person she had met at Kane. He was the one she would go to when she needed advice.

Steve looked up at her. "You had it last I saw."

"I thought it was on my desk, but it seems to be missing. It'll turn up." Mac knew if it didn't turn up then she had another secret copy she kept at home. She decided not to stress anymore about it and went back to her desk to look one more time before leaving for the weekend.

Mac got home with ten minutes to spare allowing her to kick her shoes off and drop on the couch. She was shifting through the mail and noticed an interesting piece when a knock sounded on the door, which confused Mac because Dick didn't knock anymore and just came in. Reluctantly Mac stood up and went to the door to find Paul standing there.

"Hey Mac. You left before I could catch you. Here's the flash drive." Paul handed her the small object with the Kane logo on it.

Mac came out onto the porch and shut the door. "Thanks. Where was it?"

"Steve had it. He has issues with you being made lead and him being passed over. I also suggest you check it for viruses or errors that he may have put in it. Steve's an asshole."

Mac looked at the drive. "Thanks." She sighed in frustration because she knew Steve was going to cause her problems on the project. Mac noticed Dick's truck pulled up in her driveway.

"So I was wondering, if you'd be interested in having coffee sometime? Like outside of work."

Mac was surprised that Paul had asked that. He was 30 and attractive, but they had never flirted with each other and Mac hadn't noticed him in that way. Plus, it's not smart to date someone you work with. "Um…"

At that moment Dick and Jack came walking up. "So I know I said pizza, but little dude wanted…" He noticed Paul and nodded. "Oh hi."

"Mommy, Daddy got noodles!"

"I got Chinese, so am I still you're hero?" Dick flashed her a large grin as he held up the bag.

"If I'm not cooking, yes." Mac gestured towards Paul with the flash drive in her hand. "This is my co-worker Paul. He was just dropping something off." She looked at Paul as she picked Jack up. "This is Dick and our son Jack."

"Nice to meet you." He held his hand out and shook with Dick. "Well, I should be going. You all have a good weekend. I'll see you Monday Mac. Good luck with the flash drive."

"Thanks for your help. I'll see you Monday." She nodded and then followed Dick into the house with Jack on her hip. She put Jack down by his toys and picked up an envelope from the stack of mail on the coffee table.

Mac walked to the kitchen table where Dick was pulling out the food and handed it to him. "The results are in." She then went to the cabinet to pull out plates and a fork for Jack.

"You don't want to see them?"

Mac turned around with everything in her hands. "I know what it says."

Dick smiled at her. "I have two eyes, so I know that little dude is mine. This is so I can make him mine legally." He opened the letter and pulled the paper out. "Probability of paternity is 99.99 percent. Man I can't make a 100 on a test to save my life." He winked at Mac and sat the paper on the table. "Hey little dude, time to eat let's wash your hands." Dick took Jack into the bathroom.

Once they were seated at the table, Mac use chopsticks to put some vegetable lo mein on Jack's plate while Dick put some cashew chicken on it. She then put some on Dick's plate and hers as Dick put a spring roll on each of their plates. They had quickly fallen into a comfortable routine with each other as if the past two and a half years hadn't happened.

It was moments like this that Mac wanted more from Dick then just him being a dad to Jack, however she would never act on it because having him as a constant in their son's life was more important. She was also sure Dick was probably still mad about her keeping Jack a secret for so long, even though he never said anything.

"Are you and Logan S-U-R-F-ing in the morning?" Mac looked at Jack who was dancing in his seat as he slurped the noodles. When Jack was excited about what he was eating, then he would dance.

Dick was smiling at his son. "No. He went up to LA today for work and is spending the weekend with Ronnie. Maybe you guys can come out to the house in the morning and we can spend the day at the beach."

"That sounds great." Mac wanted Jack to spend as much time with Dick as possible. In a way, she figured she was just trying to help make up for lost time.

While Dick was reading stories to Jack for bedtime, Mac decided to brave the flash drive and see what Steve may have done with it. Luckily there hadn't been a virus, but she had found missing lines of code and mistakes, but it wasn't anything she couldn't handle. Plus there was the second copy. So Mac closed her laptop, deciding to deal with it later, and laid her head back on the couch and closed her eyes.

She heard Dick walk into the living room. "Is he asleep?"

"Out cold." Dick sat down next to her on the couch.

Mac rolled her head and opened her eyes to look at him. "Thank you."

"I like putting him to bed." He slouched down so his head was even with hers.

"You're real good with him." Mac patted his leg.

Dick placed his hand on top of hers. "Thanks. I'll take the test results to my lawyer on Monday and he can submit the paper work to have me added to Jack's birth certificate." He rubbed Mac's fingers. "I want him to have my last name. Maybe we could hyphenate?"

"I thought you might say that. Hyphenating our last names is crazy long. That's just mean to do to a kid. So, I was thinking we could move Mackenzie to a second middle name."

"Are you sure your okay with that?"

"I'm sure. I've thought about it. Jackson Henry Mackenzie Casablancas."

"I didn't realize his middle name was Henry. That's mine and my dad's first name." He was thrilled to have that in common with Jack.

Mac bit her lips and it then turned into a smile. "I know. That's why I gave it to him."

Dick stared at Mac and decided he couldn't wait any longer to let her know how he still felt about her. He took his hand off of hers and caressed her cheek. Mac's smile dropped and her lips parted. Dick leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers. Having Mac actively respond to the kiss made Dick's heart leap.

He pulled Mac against him and laid them down on the couch and positioned himself so he was over her. Dick's hand went to her waist just under her shirt and Mac jumped before pushing him away. She jumped up and off the couch.

"Mac?"

"Sorry." Mac looked down at her feet and covered her face with her hands. "I haven't been with anyone since…well since…and I didn't know I'd react like that." She rubbed her hands over her hair. After leaving Neptune, Mac was focused on her pregnancy and then on raising Jack that dating just didn't seem important.

Dick stood up. "Mac, look at me. You don't need to apologize." He put a hand on each of her cheeks and gently pulled her face up to look at him. "I just want to be with you. I never stopped thinking of you."

"I never stopped thinking of you either." Mac placed her hands on his forearms. "Can we just take it slow?"

"We'll go as fast or as slow as you want. But understand that I've been dying to kiss you for weeks now, so now we've opened that door and I don't want to close it."

Mac stood on her toes and pressed a brief kiss on his lips before dropping back on her heels. "I don't either."


	12. Chapter 12

**Here are three short scenes. Hopefully I can complete the next chapter in the next couple of days.**

Chapter 12

Early July 2010

Veronica had come down to Neptune for the three day July Fourth weekend and was currently sitting on the beach outside Logan and Dick's home with Mac watching the guys in the water.

Dick was floating on his board with Jack in front of him in a kid's life vest, while they watched Logan surf. Logan would come back with his board and then they would switch Jack to his board before watching Dick catch a wave. This had become Jack's favorite part of spending time on the beach. Jack was still too small for them to teach him to surf yet, but he had a blast just going out onto the water with his dad.

Veronica was holding a camera and taking photos of Dick with Jack. "It's great seeing how good Dick is with Jack."

Mac looked over at her. "Jack adores him. I just wish I had told Dick sooner."

"Speaking of Dick. Don't think I didn't notice him give you a peck earlier." Veronica looked over her shoulder pointedly at Mac. "When did that start?"

"A week ago."

"Well, well. Little mama is finally getting her some. It took you long enough to get back on the saddle or were you waiting for Dick the whole time." Veronica shook her eyebrows at her.

"I'm not getting any. We've only kissed." Mac got out a bottle of water from the cooler next to her.

Veronica put down the camera and turned to full on look at Mac. "Excuse me. You've only kissed. You do know how Jack was made right? And this is Dick Casablancas we're talking about."

"I kind of freaked out on him the first time we made-out when he tried for second base."

Veronica came to sit down next to Mac on the beach blanket. "I understand Mac. You haven't been with anyone since you were attacked. What did Dick say?"

Mac played with the bottle of water in her hands. "He said he just wanted to be with me and hadn't stopped thinking of me since I left. Dick was so understanding."

"Wow. He's definitely not the guy I remember from when I left Neptune."

Mac pointed out to the water. "Get a picture of that. Dick is letting Jack stand on the board." She watched as Dick remained sitting on the board and held Jack around the waist as he stood on the board and pretended to surf.

Veronica stood up and took several shots. "To be honest, I didn't expect Dick to man up like he did. I should have encouraged you more to tell him." She came back to the blanket and put the camera down as she stood over Mac.

"Luckily, Dick has forgiven me for it."

"I'd say he has." Veronica made a kissing face at Mac.

"Oh you're one to talk. It seems like you Logan have made up for a lot of lost time. In fact, I heard that you make up several times a night sometimes."

"What can I say? The man knows what he's doing." Veronica sat down on the blanket.

* * *

Early August 2010

Mac was sitting on the kitchen counter with her legs wrapped around Dick as they were heavily making out. She had her hands in Dick's hair while she was pressed tightly against him and could feel his excitement through both their jeans.

Dick pulled back and pressed his forehead against Mac's. "I need to cool down a minute."

She ran her hands down to his chest. "What if I don't want us to cool down?"

He pushed some of her hair back behind her ear. "Mac, you don't have to."

Mac smiled up at him. "I know, but I really want to." She placed her hands on his abdomen under his shirt.

Dick smiled down at her. "Thank god!" He began kissing her again and put his hand on her stomach under her shirt before he pulled back again. "If you change your mind at any point, just tell me."

She shook her head. "I'm not changing my mind. I want to be with you." She rocked her hips against him.

"You have no idea how much I want you." He moved his hand up her shirt and rubbed her breast through her lace bra as he watched her face for reaction. He was pleased when it released a smile and a moan from Mac and used his other hand to pull her to him as he slammed his lips onto hers.

Mac reached for Dick's belt and released it before unbuttoning his jeans and slipping her hand in his pants.

"Mommy?"

Mac and Dick jumped apart as they heard Jack's voice. They both looked towards the hallway where the voice was coming from.

"Mommy?" Jack came down the hall and appeared in the doorway.

"Hey sweetie. Why are you awake?"

"I'm thirsty."

Mac looked back at Dick who caught her eye and then looked down at his crotch. She suppressed a smile and laugh. "Ok Jack, just wait there. I'm getting you some water." Mac jumped off the counter and got a cup out of the cabinet she filled with water.

"Hi Daddy." Jack waved sleepily.

"Hey little dude." Dick was leaning on the counter.

Mac approached Jack with the cup of water. "Okay sweetie. Back to bed."

"Goodnight. Love you." Dick waved at Jack.

"Night-night Daddy. Love you."

Mac mouthed the word sorry before turning and following Jack to his room. When she came back, Mac leaned against the counter next to Dick.

"I was just cock blocked by a toddler." He pulled Mac against him and clasped his hands behind her back. "I should head home."

"You could stay here." Mac bit her lip.

"What about Jack? Won't he be confused in the morning?"

"He's used to you being around. I don't think he would find it weird."

An hour later they were wrapped in Mac's bed sheets trying to catch their breath.

"I'm glad I didn't go home." Dick wrapped an arm around Mac.

Mac scooted away from him and got out of bed. "We need to put clothes on." She went to her dresser and opened a drawer where she pulled out a pair of pajama pants that she tossed at Dick.

He looked at the pants. "These are mine."

Mac pulled another pair out and slipped them on. "Yeah. I accidently grabbed them back when I got my things out of your room at The Grand. I spent the last few weeks of my pregnancy in them." She pulled on a tank top and looked at Dick who was giving her a goofy grin.

"Come here." He held his hand out to her.

Mac accepted his hand and crawled to him. "What?"

Dick kissed her deeply. "I never stopped loving you, you know."

Mac's face softened. "I never stopped loving you." She gave Dick a chaste kiss. "Put the pants on."

As soon as Dick was dressed, Mac went out of the room and checked on Jack who was sleeping soundly in his room. She came back into her room and left her door open.

"So you sleep with the door open?" Dick asked as he climbed into bed in the pajama pants and his undershirt.

"I should probably warn you. Jack may come in here during the night and get in bed with us."

Dick sunk deeper into the bed and lifted the sheets to Mac's side. "Okay. Come get into bed."

Mac turned off the lights and curled up with Dick.

At some point during the night Dick woke up when he felt something crawling up the bed. When he looked down, he saw Jack had climbed up the bench at the end of the bed and was crawling up between him and Mac. He watched as Jack crawled under the covers and got comfortable before falling asleep.

Later, Dick woke up to something in front of his face. When he opened his eyes, he saw a small foot an inch in front of him. He smiled at how funny it was to wake up with Jack's foot in his face. Gently, Dick moved his foot. Jack moved and his eyes opened. When he saw Dick, Jack crawled over to him and curled up against his chest before closing his eyes and going back to sleep. Dick kissed the top of his son's head and closed his eyes to go back to sleep.

When Mac woke up in the morning she was facing the center of the bed where Jack and Dick were both on their sides in identical positions and with matching faces. She gentle got out of bed and tip toed into the living room where she picked up her camera. Mac came back into the room and took a few pictures before setting the camera down and crawling back into bed with her guys.

Jack stirred and woke up looking at Mac.

"Morning baby." She whispered.

"Morning Mommy." Jack whispered back. He turned and looked at Dick who was still asleep, then turned back to Mac. "Can I wake up Daddy?"

Mac smiled to herself as she nodded. Jack would wake her up by hugging her and placing kisses on her cheeks. Mac thought it would be adorable to see him wake Dick the same way.

Jack crawled close to Dick and then at the top of his lungs yelled, "DADDY WAKE UP!"

Mac let out a cry when she saw Dick jumped and fell of the edge of the bed.

Jack peered over the edge of the bed laughing. "Morning Daddy."

Mac crawled across the bed and peered over the side. She smiled down at Dick. "Are you okay? That looked like it hurt."

"It did." Dick moaned on the floor.

"Jack, can you apologize for hurting Daddy?" Mac looked pointedly at her son.

Jack pressed his face into Mac's arm. "Sorry."

* * *

Mid August 2010

Mac was in her office with Steve and Mark. Things with Steve were not getting any better and now he was doing everything he can to make he look incompetent. They were discussing some of the ideas for the security software when Kevin came into the room.

"You guys would not believe who I just saw in the lobby." Kevin was Mac favorite guy on her team. He was flamboyant, fabulous, and annoyed Steve, what else could Mac ask for.

Mac continued making notes on her notepad. "Unless it was Ryan Reynolds, I'm not interested."

Kevin jumped up and down. "Close. Logan Echolls."

This got Mac's attention and her head shot up. "What's he doing here?"

"I don't know. But between him and gorgeous man he's with, I have fantasies in my spank bank for the next year." Kevin fanned himself.

"And what did this gorgeous man look like?" Mac looked out the glass wall the separated her office from the cubicles her team worked in to see both Logan and Dick walking towards her. "Nevermind. I see them."

The other guys in the office turned to see the celebrity in the office. They watched as Dick and Logan walked between the cubicles.

Steve's eyebrow shot up. "They're headed this way."

Mac licked her lips. "Yup." The p popped loudly.

Kevin came further into the office and leaned against Mac's bookcase next to her desk since the other two men were in her guest chairs.

Dick and Logan came to the opened door.

"Good afternoon. Are we interrupting anything?" Dick asked, as he eyed at all the guys in her office when he came into the room.

Kevin stood up. "No, please come in."

Paul was walking by at that moment and stopped in the door when he saw her office filled. "Looks like a party in here."

Dick turned to the newcomer. "Paul, right?" He held out a hand to him.

"Yeah. Good to see you again."

Paul had apologized to Mac a couple of days after he asked her out. He didn't realize she was taken since she never mentioned a husband or kid. Mac had corrected him that Dick wasn't her husband, but did say he was her boyfriend. She had also asked him not to tell others in the office because she didn't want her personal life to be anyone's business and was sure some may use it against her. However, this time Steve would be telling people that Dick bought her way into Kane.

Mac took a deep breath before standing up and moving to stand between Logan and Dick. "Okay, so here are the introductions." She pointed to each guy as she listed his name. "Kevin, Mark, and Steve are all on my development team. Then Paul in the door is another team lead." Mac then gestured to guys standing next to her. "This is Dick and Logan."

Kevin pointed at Dick. "Wait, I know you. Aren't you Dick Casablancas? You're developing the new beachside condos."

"Yeah that's me."

"Whoa. I didn't realize you were Dick Casablancas." Paul straightened from where he was leaned against the doorframe.

Kevin leered at Logan and Dick from across the room. "So how do you guys know the boss lady?"

Mac put a hand on each guys arm. "Their old friends. I've known them since high school." She felt both Dick and Logan turn their heads and stare at her like she had all of a sudden grown a third eye in her forehead. "It's noon, so you guys should take your lunch breaks. In fact, take and extra half hour."

Paul laughed from the doorway and walked away to his office. Mark and Steve stood up and left with a polite good-bye to the two men.

However, Kevin moved closer. "Something isn't right with that explanation."

She looked over at Dick and saw him cross his arms in front of him as he narrowed his eyes at her. "Okay. Fine. Dick is my boyfriend. But don't tell the rest of the team."

"Ha. I knew there was something." Kevin started for the door, but quickly turned back. "Mac, I would never tell those assholes."

"Thank you." Mac closed her office door and turned around to see Dick glaring at her.

"Why would you not want your co-workers knowing we're together?"

Mac went back to her desk. "I'm a woman in a man's field so I don't want to give them any ammunition. Plus, I was hired in as their boss without paying my dues. It's hard enough here because they already think I slept with Jake Kane to get the job. If they find out we're together, they would just assume you got me the job."

"Sorry. I didn't realize it was bad here. You never talk about work." Dick stuffed his hands in his pants.

"I don't talk about it because I hate my job." Mac grabbed her purse out of her drawer. "I assume you two came to take me to lunch." They nodded to her. "Great. Let's go."

They made it out into the lobby of Kane, when Mac noticed Steve and Trevor, a programmer from Paul's team, walking to towards the door a few feet in front of them.

"I bet she's doing both of them. She's probably trying to sleep her way to the top." Steve laughed. "I wonder how much it costs, because Mac is a fine piece of ass?"

Dick bolted forwards and grabbed Steve by the shirt collar. "While I respect Mac not wanting to bring her personal life into work, I would like to give you a fair warning." He leaned into Steve's ear. "If you speak about the mother of my child like that again, you will regret it." Dick let go of Steve's collar and began to straighten his shirt. "Do we have an understanding?"

Steve nodded.

Mac was fuming as she watched the exchange. She was furious at Dick for reacting, but she also had a bit of satisfaction seeing Steve squirm since what he said did enrage her.

Dick approached Mac and put a hand on the small of her back. "Sorry. I couldn't let him say stuff like that."

Mac took a deep breath and kept her cool. She was not going to let the men she worked with see her getting upset.

"So that explains it. She has a rich baby daddy." Steve scoffed.

Logan took a step forward as Dick turned around to face Steve. Mac grabbed both their arms and pulled them back.

"Stop." Mac looked around and saw a crowd forming to watch.

"Ms. Mackenzie." A voice boomed from the crowd.

Mac looked up to see Jake Kane walking towards them.

"What is going on here?"

"Nothing Mr. Kane. Just a disagreement."

Jake came closer to the group. "I believe you're Steve Morris." He extended his hand to Steve.

"Yes, sir." Steve shook Jake hand obvious thinking it was good thing for Jake Kane to know his name.

"Oh good. You're fired. Clean your desk out. Security will escort you off the property." Jake turned back to the rest of the group. "Dick, Logan. It's good to see you. It's been years."

"Excuse me. You can't just fire me." Steve rushed to stand in front of Jake.

"Actually I can and I just did. We have a complaint from two co-workers that you have been harassing a female employee. Then I come out here and witness it first hand, so yes I can just fire you." Jake smirked at him.


	13. Chapter 13

**We have a lighthearted scene and another with some angst. Hopefully you enjoy. The second portion of this was originally going to be two separate scenes, but some how it came out at one when I was writing.**

 **Please enjoy and let me know what you think with a review.**

Chapter 13

Late August 2010

Mac was cooking in the kitchen. She was making a mushroom risotto with steamed green beans and had picked up a rotisserie chicken for Jack and Dick. She looked over at the living room where Jack was watching cartoons, or more like there were cartoons playing but he was too busy with his toy cars to pay attention. Mac loved the fact that Jack preferred his imagination to television.

The front door opened and Dick came in. Mac had given him a key back in July when he started picking Jack up after work a few days a week that way he could bring him straight home instead of having to wait for Mac. Plus, now that he spent every night at her house it would have been a necessity.

"Hey little dude." Dick scooped Jack off the floor. "How was your day? Did you have fun with Nana?"

Jack nodded.

"What'd you do?"

"I draw with chalk." Jack smiled and squeezed Dick's cheeks.

"That sounds like fun." He put Jack back down on the floor. "I'll let you get back to your cars."

Dick set some things down before he entered the kitchen and wrapped his hands around Mac's waist as she was stirred the risotto. He kissed her neck. "How was your day?"

"Fine. You know the usual. Surrounded by a lot of guys, but never the one I want."

"Oh yeah. Who's that?"

Mac turned the stove off and moved the food off the hot surface. "Ryan Gosling."

Dick wiped her around to face him. "Ryan Gosling? I'll show you how much you want Ryan Gosling." He pulled her into a heated kiss, which caused Mac to release a quiet moan.

When they pulled back Mac felt a little breathless. "So, maybe he's number two on my list."

"That's what I thought." Dick smirked. "I need to go hang my dry cleaning up." He gave her a brief kiss on the lips. "Gosling ain't got nothin' on me baby."

Mac gathered some plates and cutlery and began setting the table. She was turning around to get some glasses when Dick came back into the room.

"So, babe." Dick approached her. "Why is there a dress bag from a bridal boutique in the closet doorway?" He leaned on the counter with a curious look.

Mac got two glasses and a plastic cup out. "That's my bridesmaid dress. It came in today." She went to the freezer and put ice in the glasses.

"Whose wedding are you in?"

Mac turned and looked at him. "Parker and Leo's. Next month. Did I not mention it?"

Dick shook his head.

"Oh. It must have slipped my mind. You want to be my date?" She set the glasses down and moved to stand in front of Dick before she wrapped her arms around his neck. "You'll have to share me with Jack, but I don't think he'll mind."

Dick laughed at her. "I don't know. Do you think I could get lucky with a bridesmaid?" He kissed her on the tip of the nose.

"Oh I can guarantee it."

"How could I turn that down? When is it?" He pushed her hair back behind her ears.

"It's Saturday, September 25."

"That works for me." Dick picked up the glasses and carried them to the table, then went back to grab the chicken since he knew Mac didn't like to deal with it. "Another question Mac."

"Another answer Dick." Mac came around the kitchen island and set the beans and risotto down.

"So you know how I spent every night the past few weeks here?"

"Yeah. You don't have to if you don't want to. I mean I like having you here, but if you need to go home then don't feel like you have to stay." Mac was putting food on Jack's plate and didn't look up at Dick. She really did like having Dick there every night and didn't want him to go home, but she also didn't want to smoother him.

Dick took the plate out of her hand and set it on the table, then turned her to look at him. "I do want to stay here every night. What I'm getting at is I think we should officially live together, but I don't know how you feel about it."

Mac smiled. "I want you living here with us. Man, Logan's going to be mad I stole his hetero lifemate."

Dick laughed. "I think he'll understand. So what are you planning to do with the two empty bedrooms?"

Mac moved away from Dick. "Jack, dinner!" She watched as he dropped his cars and came running to the table. "I was planning to make one a guestroom and the other an office, but I haven't had time. What do you have in mind?"

Dick lifted Jack into his chair and then sat down across from Mac. "Well, I happen to have an office that I would like to bring here, if you don't mind me stealing one of those rooms. Then we came figure out how to make it work for both of us as an office."

Mac sat down and began putting food on her plate. "What are you going to do about the beach house?"

"Logan may want to buy my half of it. Then I can move my bedroom into the guestroom here and poof the two rooms are filled and I officially live here." He cut up some chicken and placed it on Jacks plate.

"Dick?"

"Hmm." He responded as he popped a piece of chicken in his mouth.

"Did you already talk to Logan about this?" Mac raised and eyebrow at him while she skewered a green bean.

"Maybe."

* * *

Early September 2010

Dick had picked Jack up at Mac's parents after he finished at the condos and was heading to their home. He was due for a big inspection next week and was happily on scheduled, but was still stressing to be sure everything was in shape.

Jack was in his car seat in the backseat of the truck dancing to _Cooler Than Me_ by Mike Posner that was playing on the radio. Dick couldn't believe how much his life had changed in the past few months, but he also couldn't believe how happy he was with his own family.

He pulled up into the driveway and shut off the truck. Dick noticed a sheriff deputy cruiser was sitting at the curb in front of the home and he wondered if Leo was there.

Over the years Dick would see Leo around Neptune, some of the time he was with Parker, but Dick made an effort to avoid him when he could even though he knew Leo was only a friend to Mac. He was pretty sure that Leo disapproved of him and always felt he was sizing Dick up for something. Now as he pulls Jack out of the backseat, Dick is pretty sure he now knew what Leo was sizing him up about back then.

"Okay, little dude. Let's see what your Mom's got cooking for dinner." Dick set Jack on the ground and took his hand as they walked to the front door.

When they entered the living room, Dick noticed Mac was walking towards the hallway and didn't look back as he said hello. Dick turned to see Leo sitting in one of the living room chairs with his hands in a prayer position over his mouth.

"Hi Dick." Leo dropped his hands, took a deep breath and stood up. "Hey there Jack! Have I ever let you turn the lights on in my patrol car?"

Jack's eyes widened and he shook his head. "Can I?"

"Sure. Let's go." Leo walked to the entryway where Dick and Jack were still standing. He leaned to Dick before he walked outside with Jack. "You should go talk to her."

Dick nodded and made his way to their bedroom. "Mac, babe?" When he pushed open the door, he saw Mac sitting on the edge of the bed with her knees pulled up to her chest and her head in her hands. He came to sit on the bed next to her and pulled Mac into his arms letting her cry into his chest. "What's the matter?" He kissed the top of her head.

Mac sniffled and pulled away. "Where's Jack?"

"Leo took him outside."

She nodded and placed her head back against his chest. "They're letting him out early."

"Who?" Dick didn't know who he was.

"Kyle. Stupid prison overcrowding. He's getting out four months early."

Dick pulled her into his lap as he positioned himself against the headboard. "I'm so sorry." Seeing Mac this upset broke his heart and he wished there was something he could do to be sure Kyle stayed locked up. Then Dick's mind started wondering and he started to think about if Kyle would come after Mac again.

"I just thought when I made the deal that he would have to stay in there for the whole three years. At least he has to register as a sex offender." She wiped a tissue she had been holding against her nose.

"When does he get out?" Dick wanted to be prepared incase he came here.

"Monday, September 27." Mac wiped the tears from her face. "I need to clean myself up. I don't want Jack seeing me like this."

Dick rubbed her back and kept her held against him. "Why don't I call your parents and tell them what happened? I'm sure your parents would keep him for us tonight."

Mac shot up to look at him. "You can't tell them what happened. Like ever. They don't know." Her eyes were pleading.

"You never told them why you left?" Dick just assumed her parents knew she left Neptune all those years ago because of the attack.

Mac shook her head. "I told them I was leaving in the same conversation where I told them I was pregnant. I just let them believe the baby was the reason."

He slid her out of his lap and stood up to get his phone out of his pocket. "Fine. I'll just tell her that you're not feeling well and don't want Jack to catch it."

"Yeah. You try that." Mac gave a small laugh. "I never get sick, so prepare your answer for when she asks if you knocked me up again."

Dick turned and looked at her. "You're kidding?"

Mac slowly shook her head.

"Probably not the conversation I want to have with your parents. How about because we need some alone time?"

Mac sniffled and giggled a little more. "Then she'll ask if you're trying to knock me up again."

"Seriously?" Dick huffed.

"She wants more grandkids. Mom thinks Jack needs a sibling and that they shouldn't be too far apart in age."

Dick smiled. "So that excuse will work then. I'll just tell her that your…what's the word?" He snapped his fingers. "Ovulating."

"Oh my god." Mac put her head in her hands. "Do not use that word. You'll get her hopes up."

"Oh please. From what I heard from my contractor, Frank and his wife have been trying for years. Did you know the window to get pregnant isn't very long? Apparently getting pregnant isn't actually that easy and gets harder with age."

Mac's mouth dropped open. "Why do you know that?"

"I mentioned I had a son to Frank and it came up in conversation."

She stood up off the bed. "I'm all better now. This conversation has weirded me out." Mac went into their bathroom and wet a washcloth and then cleaned her face.

Dick followed her into the room and stood next to her looking at Mac in the mirror. "Why does it weird you out?"

Mac put the washcloth down. "Because it sounds like you want a baby. We're only 22. I couldn't imagine my life without Jack, but he was an oops. An amazing oops, but having another…you're freaking me out." She shook her head.

"Not right now. But yeah, maybe down the line." Dick shrugged.

"Like how down the line?"

"I don't know. When the time is right. It maybe a couple of years or it may be ten. I missed getting to see Jack born and holding him as a baby." Dick was looking at his feet.

"I'm sorry. You have every right to be mad at me about that."

Dick looked up at Mac and noticed the tears running down her cheeks before she was able to wipe them with the washcloth. "Hey." He turned her around and wrapped his arms around her. "I'm not mad. I'm sorry I made you feel bad."

"There's a video."

"Video of what?"

"When Jack was born." Mac pulled away.

"Well why haven't you shown it to me?"

Leo called out from the front of the house. "Hey guys. I got a call. I need to head out."

"What do you want to do Mac?" Dick was waiting for her instructions.

"I'll call Ellen. She offered to take him overnight if we ever wanted time to ourselves. Maybe she'll take him."

"Okay. I'll go out there." Dick left the room. "Then we are watching when Jack was born. That would have to cheer you up to see a kid that awesome come into the world."

An hour later they were standing outside waving as Ellen drove off with Jack in her car.

Dick turned to Mac. "I want to see that video."

Mac leaned her head back and looked at the sky. "Why did I tell you about it? You know childbirth looks like a homicide, right?"

"I don't care. I want to see it. Plus it'll get your mind off of everything." Dick held her hand and pulled her towards the house.

"It'll put you off sex. Like forever."

Dick smirked. "I doubt that."

"Childbirth is a bloodbath." Mac sank onto the couch.

Dick flopped onto the couch next to her. "It sounds to me like you don't want me to see the video."

Mac touched a finger to her nose and pointed at him.

"Come on Mac. I promise not to make comments. I just want to see it."

Mac reluctantly got up and slowly found the DVD even though she knew exactly where it was. She debated about saying she couldn't find it, but decided to put the video on. "Now keep in mind that he was early and there were complications. My mom was holding the camera and I threatened death if she shot anything below the waist."

Dick watched as Veronica held on to one of Mac's feet and cheered her to push. Mac screamed and yelled.

" _It hurts. I can't. I changed my mind, I want the drugs." Mac was panting and her face with blotchy._

 _Veronica was next to her pushing Mac's hair back. "It's too late for drugs. You can do this. It's going to be so worth it once he's out."_

"How long did it take?" Mac had been pushing for ten minutes and it didn't seem like she had gotten anywhere.

"Let me fast forward a little. I pushed for over an hour." Mac stopped the video where she was thought it was close to when Jack was born because she had never watched the video. "Okay, this is just before he's out I think."

Dick watched as Jack was born and placed on Mac's stomach, then Mac stopped the DVD.

"Wait, it's not done." Dick pulled the remote from her hand. "I want to see the whole thing,"

Mac grabbed it back from him. "No you don't Dick."

"Yes I do." He took the remote and hit play before tossing it across the room and holding Mac's so she couldn't leave.

 _Tears streamed down Mac's face. "He looks like Dick."_

" _Yeah, he does." Veronica had tears down her face too._

 _Someone off camera could be heard. "Nurse. I need you…she's hemorrhaging."_

 _Mac's face paled and she slumped back against the bed as the nurse removed Jack from her belly._

 _Mac whispered as her head fell to the side and towards the camera. "I want Dick."_

 _"What? Mac? Talk to me, Mac?" Veronica was rubbing her hair._

 _Mac's mother set the camera down and came to stand in front of it. "Cindy? Baby?"_

A nurse pushed Natalie and Veronica out of the room but Dick could hear them calling for Mac. He felt tears in his eyes. Dick pulled Mac closer to him and wrapped his arm around her while still holding on to her hands with his other hand. The same nurse came back to the camera and shut it off. The DVD ended and Dick sat there in silence

Mac pulled a hand out from Dick's and wiped a tear from his cheek. "I didn't want you to see that part."

"I knew you said it was bad, but seeing it was worse than I thought. You asked for me. You could have died and you were asking for me." Dick put his hand on her cheek. "I love you so much."

"I love you too."

"I thought this would cheer you up and get your mind off of everything, but I think I was wrong."

Mac gave him a slight smile. "Let's get some junk food and then curl up in bed with a couple of movies."


End file.
